The Politics of Housing

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It’s January of an election year, meaning plenty of hot wind even in winter! Interestingly, the issues of housing such as difficulty in accessing funds and the fact that a startling number of Americans have lost their homes have not featured prominently in the recent political discourse. Perhaps that’s because none of the would-be Presidents, Senators, etc. have any good ideas as to how to deal with the real estate mess that could potentially be waiting for them.

Never fear, the NAR rides to the rescue yet again! Seeing as how part of their operation includes a fairly powerful lobbying effort, they’ve gone ahead and tossed their platform into the fray, this time under the guise of a series of recent surveys. While the NAR and all of their shenanigans make for pretty easy pickings when it comes time to dish out ridicule, it is safe to say that the pillars behind which they stand are in fact things that the vast majority of homeowners and would-be homeowners wish for, and support. Those pillars include:

• Helping home owners avoid foreclosure.
• Keeping interest rates low.
• Making more affordable mortgage credit available.
• Keeping the mortgage interest deduction in place.

On the face of it, most Americans would probably agree that these are all good things. Yet when the issue of who pays comes into the fray, things tend to get a bit more muddled.

Of these four items on the NAR’s wish list, the one that politicians may have other plans for is the mortgage interest deduction. As the government looks for places where they can trim the fat, the mortgage interest tax deduction has made its way into the crosshairs of both parties. Removing it would generate billions in additional tax revenue. The National Association of Realtors has fought vehemently in order to keep this deduction in place, as it serves as a large incentive for homeowners. It will be interesting to see if any would-be politicos will risk suggesting it’s removal as a way to generate tax revenue, but most likely it will be avoided like the plague.

While typically the results tend to fall somewhere in the middle, the pre-election yammering typically falls either to the left of Karl Marx or the right of Genghis Khan. In terms of housing, this means either stepping in and implementing unprecedented measures to stabilize housing at great cost, or step back and let housing naturally fall and bounce back, also at great cost.

This issue is apparently a fairly unpopular talking point, likely because there’s no easy fixes that don’t either include spending by the government, or standing by while troubled owners lose their homes. So what would you do? Would a politicians stance on housing affect your voting tendencies? Comment below!