Tag Archives: Homeownership

On Tuesday night, President Barack Obama stood before the nation and delivered his final State of the Union Address. The president touched on a number of topics including budgets, insurance coverage, gun violence, and minimum wage, among others. Five Star Institute ...

The federal government's policies have been largely focused on traditional homeownership. But has it been effective?

Sustainable homeownership is the “gateway to the middle class” for many Americans and is the primary source of wealth creation for many, which is why increasing the homeownership rate is so critical to a healthy economy, according to a panel at a housing forum in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday.

According to Smoke, 32 percent of millennials were homebuyers this year, while 18 percent were sellers. On the one other hand, 40 percent of millennials own a home, while 60 percent rent.

While much of the overall economic news has been positive as of late, a survey from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia released Wednesday indicated that low- to moderate-income (LMI) households are still struggling in the areas of employment and household stability.

About 75 percent of millennials, commonly known as generation Y, would rather apply for a mortgage loan with a traditional bank as opposed to an alternative lender or nonbank institution, according to the survey, indicating that millennials think more like their parents when it comes to obtaining financing for a first home.

Only six percent of renters who have lived in their home longer than two years have experienced a decrease in their rent amount, while 38 percent of renters experienced an increase in their rent amount in the last two years.

Due to current low interest rates and anticipated appreciation rates for the next few years, homeownership is "one of the last legitimate wealth creation opportunities," according to Tim Rood, chairman of Washington, D.C.-based business advisory firm The Collingwood Group in an interview with Westwood One radio host Dirk Van last week.

Freddie Mac Deputy Chief Economist Len Kiefer, who will be a keynote speaker at the upcoming Five Star Government Forum in Washington, D.C., on March 18, predicted in Freddie Mac's March 2015 Economic and Housing Market Outlook that the coming year would be the best for housing since 2007, immediately prior to the crash.

The proposed budget would increase $4 billion from last year to a total of $49.3 billion. HUD’s budget proposes more than $21 billion for the Housing Choice Voucher Program, which Secretary Castro said would extend support to more than 2.4 million low-income families.