The recent predictions from analysts of a dark year for housing based on tight inventory combined with rapid home price appreciation and slow wage growth may be a little off base, according to Freddie Mac’s March 2016 Monthly Outlook released Thursday. Freddie Mac is predicting that housing fundamentals such as home sales, housing starts, and prices will all reach levels not seen since 2006, right in the middle of the housing bubble and two years before the crash.
The year 2016 will be a robust one for housing for several reasons, according to Freddie Mac. The 30-year mortgage rate average is expected to remain below 4 percent throughout the year, home price appreciation is expected to slow, inventory is expected to increase, and the low labor force participation rate is expected to put upward pressure on wage growth—all of which will likely make housing more affordable this year.
The Five Star Institute President and CEO Ed Delgado announced Thursday at the 2016 Five Star Government Forum in Washington, D.C., that the Institute would be partnering with the nation's leading online real estate marketplace, Irvine, California-based Ten-X to donate 50 thousand dollars to Operation Homefront, a national non-profit organization that provides mortgage-free homes to veterans. Five Star has partnered with various non-profit organizations over the last five years to provide approximately 4 million dollars worth of homes to service members.