Share this article!

Cutting capital gains taxes on houses, cutting millions in consulting fees, and cutting out talk about property tax hikes. From the wild and wooly world of real estate, here are our Hits and Misses for the week of July 21-25.

Hit and Miss: Right Words, Wrong Follow-Up. President Donald Trump gets a Hit for his off-the-cuff comment about potentially abolishing the capital gains tax on houses. “We’re thinking about that,” Trump said during a July 22 press event. “If the Fed would lower the rates, we wouldn’t even have to do that. But we are thinking about no capital gains tax on houses.” However, this also get a Miss because the White House failed to include this tax relief in its One Big Beautiful Bill Act, nor has the Trump team made any serious effort to aggressively push for the No Tax on Home Sales Act recently introduced in Congress by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA). It’s a shame so much time was wasted this week on the Federal Reserve headquarters renovation when it could have been used highlighting this potential savings for homeowners. And while we’re on the subject of Trump…

Miss: What’s in a Name? The melodrama surrounding the creation of a new stadium for the NFL’s Washington Commanders took a new turn when President Trump (pardon the expression) moved the goalposts regarding federal input on the stalled project by demanding that the team revert to its original Washington Redskins name. “I may put a restriction on them that if they don’t change the name back to the original ‘Washington Redskins,’ and get rid of the ridiculous moniker, “Washington Commanders,” I won’t make a deal for them to build a Stadium in Washington,” Trump wrote. “The Team would be much more valuable, and the Deal would be more exciting for everyone.” Okay. Well, moving on…

Miss: Uh, What? Bill Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, posted a truly puzzling message on X this week. Pulte, who is also the chairman of the board of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, wrote, “Today, under Chairman @Pulte’s direction, our Audit Committee voted to reduce @Deloitte’s fees by $13 million for the 2025 audit. Saving money creates the opportunity for us to help make housing affordable. – Fannie Mae.” Is it too much to ask what Deloitte is being paid now, or what they’re being paid for, or how reducing Deloitte’s fee makes housing more affordable?

Miss: Are You Listening, Mr. Carney? A new study published this week by the nonpartisan Fraser Institute found the average Canadian family spent 42.3% of its income on taxes in 2024 – a percentage that is greater than the 35.5% allocated to housing, food and clothing combined. Taxes have grown much more rapidly than any other single expenditure for the average family, with the average Canadian family (with an income of $114,289) paying $48,306 in total taxes last year. The total tax bill for Canadians includes visible and hidden taxes (paid to the federal, provincial and local governments) including income taxes, payroll taxes and sales taxes. Is it any wonder why too many Canadian believe they will never be able to pursue homeownership?

Hit: Learning from Mistakes. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is downplaying comments made by Jill Jaworski, his chief financial officer, that it was “likely” the city could raise property taxes to fill its $1 billion budget deficit. That’s the last thing Johnson wants – last year, he proposed a $300 million property tax hike that was unanimously rejected by the Democrat-controlled City Council. Johnson told a press conference that other strategies to close the budget gap were being proposed, noting how his administration has “a working group that is coming up with a lot of ideas.” Clearly, the mayor learned from his mistake and is not talking up property tax increases – let’s hope he walks the walk, too.

Hit: Crypto is Here to Stay. Christie’s International Real Estate has become the first major brokerage to launch a division to handle cryptocurrency transactions where both the buyer and seller engage in digital payment transactions that are not reliant on a bank. The New York Times reports the division will be run by Aaron Kirman, CEO of Christie’s International Real Estate | Southern California. Kirman noted, “The trend was obvious — crypto is here to stay. It’s only going to get bigger over the next few years.” While transparency could be a problem – Kirman admitted he has closed several cryptocurrency deals where the seller did not know the buyer’s identity – it is obvious that cryptocurrency is quickly permeating the real estate world and Christie’s deserves praise for venturing into this new area.

Phil Hall is editor of Weekly Real Estate News. He can be reached at [email protected].

Photo courtesy Robby Roberts / Facebook