11 Things That Will Cost More in 2016
The cost of health care continues to shift upward, for both Americans who have employer-sponsored insurance at work and those who purchase plans individually via the Obamacare exchanges. For employees, premium costs for 2016 are expected to increase 4.1 percent in 2016, up from 3.2 percent this year, according to Aon Hewitt.
iStockphoto
A firming labor market and tight inventory thanks to a slow rebound by new homebuilders has helped push both home prices and rents up in the past few years, a trend expected to continue into 2016. Home prices are expected to increase about 3.5 percent next year, according to Zillow. Despite the gains, national home prices remain about 25 percent below their bubble peaks a decade ago.
iStockphoto/Andy Dean Photography
For the 2015-2016 school year, tuition and fees increased 2.9 percent to $9,410 at public schools and 3.6 percent at private schools, climbing to an average $32,405, according to The College Board. (Those numbers don’t include the cost of room and board or factor in student aid, which typically reduces the net price paid by coeds.)
Over the past decade, prices increased an average 2.8 percent per year at public schools and 2.3 percent per year at private colleges. While the cost of college has received a lot of attention on the campaign trail this year, there are no policy changes on the horizon that would suggest prices won’t increase again next year.
iStockphoto
The price to lease an apartment is already at record levels, and it’s expected to go up again in 2016, with property managers surveyed by Rent.com predicting an average 8 percent increase. High rent reflects growing demand and extremely low inventory and vacancy rates. Economists at Zillow expect 2016 to bring the least affordable median rents in history.
Wikimedia Commons
It’s going to cost you more to get your Thin Mint fix. At least three Girl Scout Councils have announced plans to hike prices this year by 25 percent, to $5 per box, joining several other councils in high-cost areas. About 70 percent of the revenue from cookies goes back to the scouts’ local council and about 15 percent goes to the individual troops.
iStockphoto
The prices of groceries are expected to rise 2 percent to 3 percent across the board next year, according to the latest forecast from the Department of Agriculture. Dining out will cost 2.5 percent to 3.5 percent more. The cost of eating at fast-food restaurants may go up even higher as a growing number of states and municipalities embrace a $15 minimum wage. A report this summer by Purdue University found that fast food prices could go up an estimated 4.3 percent.
iStockphoto
Low fuel prices have been pushing airfare prices down in the last quarter of 2015, but the trend may not last. Travel data firm Hopper predicts that prices will bottom out in January before heading back up. The cost of plane tickets worldwide and in the United States will tick up 0.5 percent, according to the Global Business Travel Association next year.
iStockphoto
Even as North American hotels added 100,000 new rooms in 2015, the new supply hasn’t kept up with demand, according to the Global Business Travel Association report. In addition to increasing prices 2.5 percent globally and 4.3 percent in North America, hoteliers are upping the charges for things like Wi-Fi and room service. The higher prices may lead to greater competition from sharing economy upstarts like AirBnB.
iStockphoto
The Federal Reserve just raised interest rates for the first time in nearly a decade. The Fed will likely move slowly and cautiously on further rate hikes in 2016, so the immediate impact on consumers will be minimal. Still, an increase in interest rates is good news for savers who’ve been earning paltry returns for years and a warning for borrowers who’ll now have to pay more on any new or variable rate loans.
© Win McNamee / Reuters
While the currency has yet to be wildly adopted, it has garnered ardent supporters, and is gaining a bit of legitimacy, including a recent license from New York regulators. One Bitcoin is currently worth about $463, down from a peak of $979 in late 2013, but some enthusiasts are bullish. Analysts at Wedbush Securities expect the price to hit $600 or more next year.
REUTERS/Jim Urquhart
The cost of the 2016 election could reach a whopping $10 billion. That would make it nearly 60 percent more expensive than the 2012 contest, which cost $6.3 billion. Hillary Clinton alone is reportedly aiming to raise $2.5 billion, and the Koch brothers have said they’d spend nearly $900 million.
© Rick Wilking / Reuters