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32

HOME

(M-59

ing that family's life goals," explains
James S. Bonadeo, president of the
Builder's Association of Southeastern
Michigan.
In addition to the emotional and
social benefits of owning a home,
there also are some very practical
financial benefits for home owners.
The single largest investment that
most home owners ever make, houses
generally increase in value over a
period of years providing a substan-
tial nest-egg for retirement, education
or emergencies.
Over the past 50 years the value of
houses has increased at a rate slightly
above the nation's inflation rate and
that trend is likely to continue.
"There will be regional variations
and even variations within markets,"
Mr. Bonadeo says, "but overall, in-
creases in homes values should con-
tinue to follow the inflation rate pretty
closely."
Housing also is a stable investment
and is much less prone to the
numerous sharp swings that
characterize stock prices. And it has
outpaced stocks as an investment
during the past 20 years. Between
1970 and the end of 1989, the me-
dian price of an existing home rose
300 percent, compared to a 250 per-
cent increase in the Dow Jones
Average.
According to Mr. Bonadeo, there
also are considerable tax benefits and
"leveraging" benefits to homeowner-
ship — investing a comparably small
amount of money to make a
downpayment while realizing an in-
crease in appreciation based on the
full value of the house.
As an example of the tax and
leveraging benefits of homeowner-
ship, consider two families, each con-
sisting of a couple with one child.
Total family income is $40,000 per
year and will increase five percent
annually.
The construction of just 1,000 new
single-family homes creates 1,759
man-years of employment and
generates $45.7 million in wages. It
also generates $18.8 million in tax
revenues.
The bottom line: construction of
1,000 new single-family homes has an
J economic impact of $207 million.