Homeownership
Owning a home remains one of the primary ways Americans and small communities build wealth, and as long as housing values remain stable or increase, making a mortgage payment every month creates equity and certainly grows the economy.
Some of the documented social benefits of owning a home include:
Some of the documented social benefits of owning a home include:
- Charitable activity on behalf of some homeowners
- Civic participation in both local community and national issues
- Greater awareness of the political process and the surrounding community decisions
- Increase membership in voluntary organizations and church attendance
- Increased social capital generated
- Greater awareness to the neighborhood and neighbors
- Lower teen pregnancy by those living in owned homes
- Higher student test scores by those living in owned homes
- Higher rate of high school graduation thereby higher earnings
- Children more likely to participate in organized activities and have less television screen time
- Homeowners take on a greater responsibility in home maintenance and financial skills and those skills are passed down to their children
- General increase in positive outlook on life and less depression
- Homeowners reported higher life satisfaction, higher self-esteem, happiness, and higher perceived control over their lives
- Better health; better physical and psychological
- Increased wealth for homeowners under normal housing market conditions