A Phil Hall Op-Ed: Two weeks from today, Donald Trump will return to the White House. During last year’s presidential campaign, Trump offered next to nothing – okay, he offered nothing – regarding how he would address some of the major issues impacting housing policy.
As the new Trump administration approaches, perhaps it is time to ask the upcoming 47th president some questions regarding housing-related matters. Here are five questions that I would like to see answered.
Back to the Settlement? The US Supreme Court is currently considering whether the Department of Justice has the right to jettison its 2020 settlement with the National Association of Realtors and renew its investigation of trade group’s Participation Rule and Clear Cooperation Policy. The settlement came at the tail end of the first Trump term, but was reopened during the Biden presidency. Will the returning Trump administration abide by the 2020 settlement, or will it leave the case for the Supreme Court to decide?
GSE Reform, At Long Last? The Wall Street Journal reported last September that Trump’s economic advisors were putting together plans to end the federal conservatorship of the government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that have been in place since September 2008. Last week, the Federal Housing Finance Agency and the Department of the Treasury picked up the issue of GSE after nearly four years of inertia with amendments to their Preferred Stock Purchase Agreements, which the agencies claimed was being done ahead of the potential conclusion of conservatorship. What is the Trump game plan on GSE reform, and is there a timeline on when we can expect the conservatorship to end?
Hitting the Off Button on Energy Code Mandates? Last week, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) joined 15 state attorneys general in a lawsuit to stop to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development and the US Department of Agriculture from adopting the 2021 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) and ASHRAE 90.1-2019 as the minimum energy-efficiency standards for certain single-family and multifamily housing programs. NAHB Chairman Carl Harris argued that “compliance with the 2021 IECC can add more than $22,000 to the price of a new home, but in practice, home builders have estimated increased costs of up to $31,000.” Will the incoming administration side with the home builders and reverse this Biden-era Green New Deal policy?
Stopping Hedge Funds in Housing? During last June’s debate that sped the demise of his re-election bid, President Biden promised to “make sure we cap rents, so corporate greed can’t take over.” The “corporate greed” mention was a veiled reference to the hedge funds that have become dominant figures in the rental housing market – many critics claim these entities have distorted the market by snapping up for-sale properties and turning them into rental properties. Biden did not call out the hedge funds by name because many of their top executives are Democrat Party donors – will the Trump administration address the impact of hedge funds on housing, or will it ignore the subject?
Whither the CFPB? Last month, Elon Musk used his new position as co-head of the Department of Government Efficiency to declare: “Delete CFPB. There are too many duplicative regulatory agencies.” Does the new Trump administration believe the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau needs to be jettisoned? And, if so, will it work with the new GOP-controlled Congress to push for its eradication?
Phil Hall is editor of Weekly Real Estate News. He can be reached at [email protected].
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These Hedge Fund companies have absolutely destroyed the housing market Rich getting richer. These companies are buying up almost every property that a first time buyer is interested in. These companies buy them for top dollar, renovate them, then rent them at very high rent rates, because nobody can afford to buy a home, so it is a win, win for these companies.
⬆️ This!!