6 Predictions for 2026 That Could Reshape the Economy and Housing Market

December 19, 2025

AI Summary

5 min read

🎙️ The Voices & The Context

The Format: This interview-style podcast dives into macroeconomic forecasts and real estate strategies through a structured host-guest dialogue, tying expert insights on AI, interest rates, and housing to actionable investing advice amid economic uncertainty. Analytical and forward-looking.
The Format: An interview.
The Key Players:
- Guest: Ben Miller, CEO of Fundrise, a thought leader in real estate and finance with a proven track record of accurate market predictions, previously featured for his spot-on 2025 real estate outlook.

🗝️ Key Themes & Topics

The episode unpacks the 2026 economy through four interconnected lenses: real estate's bottoming amid falling rates, AI's deflationary force on jobs and wages, shifting real estate investment paradigms favoring high-end assets, and practical AI tools revolutionizing investor analysis.

Topic 1: Real Estate Bottoming and Falling Interest Rates. Ben argues real estate has bottomed due to declining new construction supply and anticipated rate cuts, driven by fading inflation (not stuck at 3%, but nearing 2%), tariff effects waning, and a soft economy outside AI/data centers; he predicts mortgage rates and the 10-year Treasury will drop as markets realize recession risks outweigh inflation, sparking real estate activity by late 2026.
**Topic 2: AI's Deflationary

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What you'll learn

1 `(00:00)` **🎙️ Introduction: Ben Miller**
2 `(01:21)` **Current State of Real Estate Market**
3 `(02:02)` **Interest Rates Outlook: Why Rates Will Fall**
4 `(06:52)` **Mortgage Rates and Real Estate Recovery Timeline**
5 `(08:34)` **AI as Deflationary Force**
6 `(14:17)` **AI's Job Market Disruptions**
7 `(17:49)` **Optimistic AI Scenarios and Real Estate Paradigm Shift**

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Show Notes

Has real estate finally bottomed? Ben Miller, CEO of Fundrise (managing over $7B in real estate), says it’s so. And he’s not just talking about commercial real estate. If true, one particular type of real estate investment could do exceptionally well over the next year, but most people (even Dave!) are going in a different direction. Where could the next big real estate boom happen? We’re getting into it!

To continue this prediction season, Ben joins us to walk through a few crucial economic outlooks that could greatly affect the housing market. From AI stunting hiring to inflation actually going down (below 2%!), American wage trends changing dramatically, and the assets that will perform best, we’re getting his take as someone who manages billions of dollars in real estate.

Want mortgage rates to go down? We need lower inflation, and Ben says there’s good news on the horizon for stable prices. New technology adoption could lead to much lower inflation (even deflation in some cases). Could this be what reignites the housing market as mortgage rates react to a more stable economy? Ben gives his full take, with some surprises even Dave wasn’t prepared for.

In This Episode We Cover

The bottom for real estate prices? Why Ben thinks it’s here (or very close)

The end of runaway inflation: How AI could kill the concern over rising costs

More Americans making less, and what happens when AI takes tens of millions of jobs

The one type of residential real estate that is poised to perform best in 2026

A new AI tool that could be pivotal for rental property investing research

And So Much More!

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