Fri, March 29, 2024

Real Talk Real Estate: Actions are being taken to alleviate the housing market crisis

All things, good or bad, must eventually come to an end. Hopefully, the end of this housing market crisis will be sooner rather than later.

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) has put out an article sharing some good news. People and organizations are taking the initiative to advocate for change on our behalf. The NAR has headed this movement, working with the government and private companies to help support home ownership in the United States.

Here are some facts provided by the NAR:

eoy CAMPAIGN HEADER

• 65.5% of Americans own a home. The net worth of a typical homeowner is nearly 40 times the net worth of a non-owner.

• There is a historic 50-year record shortage of affordable homes available for purchase.

• There are currently 165,000 homes nationwide listed for sale that middle-income families can afford to buy. That number was 450,000 in 2019.

• Over the last two years, the percentage of single-family homes sold below $250,000 has plummeted from 47% of sales to 28%.

• A family needs an income of at least $96,755 to afford a 10% down payment mortgage. A year ago it was $63,956.

THE GOOD NEWS

Starting from the top down.

The White House has included a budget request of $79.1 billion in discretionary funding for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). This is a 21% increase from the 2021 enacted level, which is great news because it has only gotten worse since then.

The most notable places these funds are going to are the Housing Choice Voucher Program, enhancing household mobility into higher-opportunity neighborhoods, increasing the affordable housing supply, and efforts to end homelessness. If you’d like to see an exact breakdown, here is the link to the White House’s Budget for the fiscal year 2023. https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/budget_fy2023.pdf (starts at pg. 73)

Bryan Greene is the NAR’s Vice President of Policy Advocacy and he has met with multiple government officials, including the Senior Advisor to the president, advocating for an increase in housing availability, affordability, and accessibility.

Greene has personally spoken out about solutions that can be activated immediately, including converting unused commercial properties to residential, rehabilitating homes, and reducing capital gains taxes to promote the sale of single-family homes that are currently being held back from the market.

Lastly, thousands of NAR members marched on Washington and hand-delivered a list of legislation that will improve access to home ownership. These include:

• Housing Supply and Affordability Act (S. 902, H.R. 2126) – Will enact pro-housing policies at the local level.

• Neighborhood Homes Investment Act (NHIA) (S. 98, H.R. 2143) – Will offer tax credits to attract private investment for building and rehabilitating owner-occupied homes

• Greater Revitalization of Shopping Centers Act (H.R. 5041) – Will create a grant within the Section 108 Loan Guarantee Program to incentivize public and private investment in abandoned and underutilized shopping malls.

• Revitalizing Downtowns Act (S. 2511, H.R. 4759) – Will give a tax credit to convert unused office buildings into residential, commercial, and mixed-use properties.

• Housing Fairness Act (S. 769, H.R. 68) – Will reauthorize and increase funding for HUD fair housing testing and enforcement programs.

If you would like to see in-depth what the NAR has planned, check out their link here.
www.nar.realtor/advocacy/2022-nar-priorities-realtors-legislative-meetings-trade-expo

Subscribe to our eNewsletter for the BEST local business news delivered to your Inbox each week day.

* indicates required

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

More Posts

Cyber attacks: Not if but when?

Think your company is too small to be hacked? No. So what happens to the integrity of your business when your customer’s info is breached?