navycmdr
5 days ago
Kamala Harris’s housing plan is similar to a
Singaporean strategy—where 90% of residents own their homes
Alena Botros - Mon, August 19, 2024
In the housing world, we’re in an era of haves and have-nots, or as influential economics
writer Noah Smith recently put it, “a direct and inevitable conflict between two large
classes of American society: homebuyers versus homeowners.”
The dichotomy is old, stemming from a time decades ago when a home started to be
perceived as an investment rather than simply a place to live. It feels extremely
pronounced at the moment, however, because the gap between those who own a
home and those who don’t has expanded so much in recent years. Homeowners want
their homes to appreciate in value, therefore amplifying their wealth, while new
homebuyers want prices they can afford. This has sometimes led to a war between
baby boomers and millennials.
“It’s basically a zero-sum game,” the former Bloomberg opinion writer and
macroeconomics expert Smith wrote on his blog yesterday.
In an election year, it’s always the economy. And by way of that, it’s housing.
Democratic presidential nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris recently
shared her housing plan, and Smith is into it. He likened it to Singapore’s
housing policy.
“In Singapore, the government controls the supply of housing, because it
owns about 90% of the land, and can decide how much to build,” Smith wrote.
“Singapore’s Housing Development Board increases supply slowly and
steadily over time, so that everyone has a place to live, and so that
housing—at least, theoretically—earns a modest but predictable
financial return.”
And “it gives lower-income first-time homebuyers a government grant to
help them buy houses,” he said, through a wealth redistribution system.
In 2023, the homeownership rate among Singaporeans was close to 90%.
Some key components of Harris’s plan include up to $25,000 in down
payment assistance for first-time homebuyers and a $10,000 tax credit
for first-time buyers; tax incentives for builders who build starter homes
and affordable rentals; a $40 billion fund to build housing; a repurposing
of some federal lands for housing; a ban on price-setting tools used by
landlords; and a removal of tax benefits for investors buying a
substantial number of single-family homes.
There’s a lot there, but Smith focused on the credits to first-time
homebuyers, tax incentives for builders, more money to build, and
the repurposing of federal lands. He called the latter three “supply
expansion,” and labeled the plan for federal lands “very Singaporean.”
Supply is something the Biden administration has mentioned in its
policy announcements and plans, too, which as Smith points out
is the basis of the YIMBY, or yes-in-my-backyard, movement: the
need for more homes and the ways we can build more homes.
Harris is beginning to embrace that, it seems.
“The Harris economic program—and the Biden program—are
solidly in line with the YIMBY movement that has been winning
victories at the state level,” Smith said. “The key to the YIMBY
movement is that it emphasizes goals over methods—the idea
is to build housing by any means necessary, including
deregulation, tax incentives, and government housing construction
all at once. Harris’s plan embodies this all-of-the-above approach.”
He continued: “Critics have lambasted Harris’s first-time homebuyer
grants as just another demand subsidy that will push up prices.
But Singapore does the same thing! And research suggests that
the effect on prices won’t be that huge.”
But will America become the next Singapore where housing is
concerned? Probably not. Still, it’s encouraging to see housing
take center stage, and to see it being discussed in a way that
recognizes fundamental issues, such as a massive shortfall of
homes. But so much of housing policy happens at the local level,
from governors to mayors to wealthy neighborhood associations.
Not to mention, the Singaporean government controls much
more land than our government.
“Harris’s YIMBY plan won’t fix all that’s wrong with housing in
America,” Smith wrote. “Our state and local laws are too
fragmented, and our NIMBYs too entrenched, for any federal
plan to make the housing shortage go away. But making the
U.S. just a little bit more like Singapore can only be a good
thing, and that’s what Harris is trying to do here.”
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
navycmdr
1 week ago
$Booom ! - CNBC - Mortgage refinancing surges 35% in one week,
as interest rates hit lowest level in over a year
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/08/14/mortgage-refinancing-surges-35percent-in-one-week-as-interest-rates-hit-lowest-level-in-over-a-year.html?__source=iosappshare%7Ccom.apple.UIKit.activity.CopyToPasteboard
FHFA to Hold 1st Meeting of Advisory Committee on Affordable, Equitable, & Sustainable Housing -08/14/24
Wash, D.C. – FHFA 1st meeting of the ACAESH in person Sept 10-11, 2024, at FHFA’s headquarters in Wash, D.C., with video and audio coverage available.https://t.co/xhKKCJF2Bq pic.twitter.com/0gtWO0X5TA— Cmdr Ron Luhmann (@usnavycmdr) August 14, 2024
FHFA to Hold First Meeting of Advisory Committee on Affordable, Equitable, and Sustainable Housing
Immediate Release - 08/14/2024
Washington, D.C. – Today, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced the first meeting of the Advisory Committee on Affordable, Equitable, and Sustainable Housing (ACAESH). The ACAESH meeting will be held in person September 10-11, 2024, at FHFA’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., with video and audio coverage available.
“The Committee’s wide-ranging expertise will help FHFA continue to fulfill its mission,” said Director Sandra L. Thompson. “This Committee is an additional example of how FHFA’s ongoing dialogue with stakeholders and the public guides the development of thoughtful and balanced policymaking that promotes access to mortgage credit and affordable rental housing in a safe and sound manner.”
Members of the public interested in watching the ACAESH meeting can attend in person or virtually. The meeting agenda and registration information will be available at https://www.fhfa.gov/programs/acaesh. In-person attendance will be limited. Full details on the meeting can be found in the Federal Register notice.
To submit questions and comments to the Committee, email ACAESH@fhfa.gov. Questions and comments must be submitted no later than 15 calendar days before the public meeting for the Committee to consider including them in the discussion.
The Committee is advisory in nature. Members serve a term of two years. Today, FHFA also renewed the Committee’s charter in accordance with the provisions of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, as amended, 5 U.S.C. § 1001 et seq.
Louie_Louie
2 weeks ago
We would fall respectively under #9 and #11. We are dealing with weaponized government going against us shareholders - and the twins would most definitely be in the picture if any city is to be restructured. He's not going to advertise releasing the GSE's, that would create a lot of needless attacking. He can do it when the time is right, and in his own good time, with input from his administration, so he is not going to make it an election point right now. House and Senate majorities will also matter, since Chevron has been decided and it brings the house and Senate into any release scenario. Neither party knows what the majorities will be, but it is a key to unlocking us from never ending enslaved servitude.
jog49
2 weeks ago
Oh, not saying Blackstone is flipping shares but it IS a strategy and is probably the only strategy over past many years to make money trading GSE shares. I wish, in hindsight, that I had done so with my little holdings rather than sit here like a bump on a log and make absolutely nothing. Way back when, I bought the GSEs as dividend payers and over the ensuing 20 years, the government's intervention has, literally, cost me millions of dollars in dividend-lost payments.