Posted on 07/18/2025 6:10:41 PM PDT by Angelino97
Remove illegal immigrants. Higher wages, less demand for housing.
All that, however, would lead to falling home prices, and that would run afoul of the administration’s Wall Street allies who incessantly demand more asset price inflation.
I think this tool still thinks Briben’s Autopen is in charge.
More needs to be done. Lower housing prices!
Median area home prices should be about 3 times the area median income..
Until they get back there, homes are overpriced.
Median 2 income household income $100K?
Home price about $300k.
Save 20% down is $60K
With a little planning, a few years for the dedicated savers, about $100 a day.
Review
Agreed
Raise the Cap Gains exemption or eliminate Cap Gains taxes altogether on residence sales (I’d prefer everything, like stocks). Boomers who bought 30+ years ago aren’t that keen on selling and getting hit with the taxes above the exemption, which has not changed in decades and was originally intended for rich people ($250k exemption single, $500k married). That’s helping to keep supply down and prices up. Trump basically got rid of the AMT in his first term, he needs to work on Cap Gains tax reduction or elimination on real estate sales.
Lowering interest rates makes the loan cost less, but could actually drive up the price of housing if it increases demand. Lower interest rates are good for refinancing an existing loan.
I guess it’s a problem if you’re trying to buy a house, but people like me - who are selling - it’s great.
My father passed away, after outliving my mother by 5 years, in a large 4 bedroom house, with over an acre and a beautiful ocean view. They lived there for over 50 years. House I grew up in. Tons of memories.
But my siblings and I are in our fifties, have our own families and houses. We weren’t excited to sell the house, but it was the only move that made sense.
House went on the market on a Thursday, had 9 offers by 5 pm Monday. Sold it for $53k above asking.
I guess the lesson is people are still buying, especially in nice areas with great schools. Even having to get over a 900k mortgage at these high rates.
I doubt illegals are in the market buying $400,000 homes which is the price of a decent home for a family.
Supply & demand still works. Prices in cities like Seattle are high because of building restrictions. My daughters mome in Seattle is same size as mine. Her home is appraised at $800,000. my home in Florida is appraised at $400,000.
At this point, I’m more concerned with the affordability of basic necessities such as food, energy, and the bane of everyone’s existence.... friggin insurance whether it’s home or auto.
“Until they get back there, homes are overpriced.”
If a house is for sale and has a buyer, it is not overpriced.
They live 6 adults to a house.
Mortgage rates (how much interest banks can get on a mortgage) follow treasury debt rates or their changes (how much investors can get paid in interest on a 10, 20, 30 year treasury bond).
And the interest rates on those bonds are put up by the treasury debt seeking buyers, and will be as high as needed to attract those buyers, and that WILL NOT depend on the federal reserve’s set interest rate.
And the more debt we have and the more debt we have to issue puts upward pressure on those treasury bond rates.
A lower interest rate set by the fed may affect many types of borrowing, but with our federal debt so high and rising it may not greatly affect mortgage rates.
And if the fed sets it’s rate TOO low, it may ignite inflation again.
I think Powell is not “independent” but very political. There was no economic grounds for the fed rate cut they did last September, just 60 days before the election. It was an inflationary spike to the economy with inflation rising month to month from September’s rate of 2.4 to December’s rate of 2.9. With that in mind, I think Powell will spike inflation again, with not one .25 rate decrease in September, but a .50 decrease. I think Powell will do that to injure an economic recovery that does not need a big fed boost, in spite of what Trump thinks he wants. Then as inflation picks back up he can blame Trump.
MOST of the housing problems are the result of disastrous state and local housing regulation, zoning regulations and government attempts to micromanage the housing supply and often NOT for pure simple housing and housing market reasons.
What housing needs MOST is a whole lot of states and localities to get the hell out of the way.
“and that WILL NOT depend on the federal reserve’s set interest rate.”
The Fed’s don’t set the rate. They set a target. Banks set the rate.
No, those would be the H-1B job stealers and foreign investors buying the $400,000 houses driving up housing prices.
You are splitting hairs. The fed has a whole raft of tools it uses to pressure the banking system to reach its target.
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