Event Coverage
SILVAR Leadership and Region 9 Directors at C.A.R. Business Meetings
SILVAR leadership and Region 9 Directors joined thousands of REALTORS® and other real estate professionals from across the state at the California Association of REALTORS® (C.A.R.) Business Meetings & EXPO in San Diego this week. At the Member and Director Forum on Wednesday, C.A.R. President Geoff McIntosh and other C.A.R. officials delivered reports on the state of the association and legislative policies.
Highlights of the forum include McIntosh's plea to help victims of the North Bay fires. The fires are still burning thousands of acres, destroying homes, businesses and taking the lives of residents. McIntosh indicated REALTORS® there have lost their homes, some have lost their lives, or the life of a loved one. He called on members to help their REALTOR® family by donating to the disaster relief fund. Grants provided by the fund are used to help members of the REALTOR® family - REALTORS®, their staff, and association members and their staff - who incurred substantial losses due to the wildfires.
To donate, visit www.car.org/difference/realtorscare. You can also make a tax-deductible donation to the C.A.R. Disaster Relief Fund. Please make checks payable to the California Community Foundation and write "C.A.R. Disaster Relief Fund" on the "memo" line. Send checks to the California Community Foundation, 221 S. Figueroa St., Suite 400, Los Angeles, CA 90012.
McIntosh reported C.A.R. projects its membership for 2017 will reach about 198,000 and increase 1.4 percent to 200,400 in 2018.
C.A.R. CEO Joel Singer explained how Congress' tax reform proposal, if passed, could remove the tax incentive to own a home and negatively impact the housing market, especially in California. Singer said it is not an accident that Democratic states like California will be hit harder by the GOP tax reform proposal. He noted the proposal is not a tax reform package, that it is actually a tax reduction package for the rich. While the proposal retains the mortgage interest deduction (MID), incentives for using the MID will be dramatically reduced for middle income homeowners.
By doubling the standard deduction, the incentive of using the MID would be nullified as a tax saving tool for a homeowners. The repeal of state and local tax deductions would increase the cost of owning a home.
Home values would decline as these tax advantages vanish for homeowners. Singer anticipates a 1.5 percent decline in home values in the first year of the plan's implementation and a drop in the homeownership rate to less than 50 percent by 2025. California's homeownership rate is currently at 53 percent.
Home sales would decline to 3.4 percent because homeowners would be reluctant to put their property on the market. This would further tighten the housing supply in California.
If implemented, Singer fears the plan will make California a rental state sooner than later.
"This is going to be the biggest threat in a decade ...We need to immediately oppose it," Singer told members, calling for a full blown mobilization of resources to educate consumers and legislators about the harmful effects of the GOP tax reform plan.
Delivering the "2018 Housing Market Forecast" at the EXPO Closing Luncheon yesterday, C.A.R. senior vice president and chief economist Leslie Appleton-Young said she expects U.S. GDP to grow to 2.3 percent in 2018, after a projected gain of 2.1 percent in 2017, the state's nonfarm job growth to increase 1.2 percent, down from a projected 1.6 percent in 2017, and the state's unemployment rate to dip to 4.6 percent in 2018 compared with 4.8 percent in 2017.
"With tight inventory being the new 'norm' for the past few years and at least the upcoming year, we'll continue to see fierce competition driving up prices, leading to lower affordability and weaker sales growth," said Appleton-Young.
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The Silicon Valley Association of REALTORS® (SILVAR) is a professional trade organization representing over 4,000 REALTORS® and Affiliate members engaged in the real estate business on the Peninsula and in the South Bay. SILVAR promotes the highest ethical standards of real estate practice, serves as an advocate for homeownership and homeowners, and represents the interests of property owners in Silicon Valley.
The term "REALTOR®" is a registered collective membership mark which identifies a real estate professional who is a member of the National Association of REALTORS® and who subscribes to its strict Code of Ethics.
For further information, please email or call the SILVAR office at (408) 200-0100.