National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) President Leslie Rouda Smith participated in a private White House meeting in September with a diverse group of housing industry leaders to discuss viable solutions to the nation’s housing supply and affordability crisis.
She called the meeting “a candid discussion of ideas” about how to fill the historic 5.5 million housing-unit gap. And she labeled housing supply “the No. 1 issue for millions of consumers who are locked out of the market.”
The discussion covered legislative, administrative, private sector, and state and local solutions.
Joining from the Administration were National Economic Council Director Brian Deese, Domestic Policy Council Director Ambassador Susan Rice, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge and Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Sandra Thompson.
Following the meeting, Rouda Smith said: “I conveyed to the Administration and my colleagues our support for a comprehensive plan that includes investment in new construction, zoning reforms, expansion of financing and tax incentives to spur investment in housing and convert unused commercial space to residential.”
This meeting follows a year of action on supply.
In May, thousands of REALTORS® descended on Washington, D.C., and hand-delivered to Congress a comprehensive list of actions to address the housing shortage, while also, in May, the Biden Administration released the President’s Housing Supply Action Plan.
In June, NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun testified before the Senate banking committee on housing inventory and affordability.
And in July, the Treasury Department allowed the use of $350 billion in American Rescue Plan funds for developing, repairing and operating affordable housing units.
Many paths to solving the housing supply crisis lead through the tax code.
Recently, a bipartisan bill was introduced in Congress to double the capital gains exclusion for sales of principal residences from $250,000 to $500,000 for single filers and from $500,000 to $1 million for married couples filing a joint tax return, and also index these amounts for future inflation.
The “More Homes on the Market Act” was introduced with NAR’s endorsement by Representatives Jimmy Panetta (D-CA) and Mike Kelly (R-PA), both key allies of REALTORS®.
Current exclusion amounts were not indexed for inflation when they were put into the tax law in 1997, and a quarter-century of inflation has greatly reduced the benefit.
For years, REALTORS® have noted that this trend has created a disincentive to sell and results in fewer homes coming on the market.
This bill is just one example of NAR’s work on supply and affordability. We will continue partnering with friends, government, industry leaders and elected officials at the state and local level on a sustained and comprehensive action plan to alleviate this crisis.
For more information, visit https://www.nar.realtor/.
