Last week, in a Cabinet meeting, the President declared that he wants to drive housing prices up, not down. This had to come as a jolt to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) since the long-standing and oft repeated mantra of the organization is that “housing affordability” is harmed most by excessive regulations and government overreach that drive up the cost of buying a home.
As of this writing, the Washington based trade group, who only a few days before the White House statement was issued, had posted their own “news” item reporting that on January 22, the Association Chairman, spoke before a congressional panel hearing focusing on housing affordability. The Trump Administration has not responded, at least publicly.
NAHB's spokesman had told the assembled group:
“The best way to ease the housing affordability crisis is for policymakers to eliminate excessive regulations that are preventing builders from increasing the housing supply …”
Sound familiar? The statement is nothing new, but rather it carries the same tired messaging churned out, ad nauseam, by the organization for decades. The only thing that really changes in the wording from year to year is the name of the association officer they are crediting as the standard bearer.
Clearly this has put the industry group in a tough spot. Like so many special interests in this country, they shrink from disagreeing with the White House for fear of retribution even though the direction urged by the President turns their established policy initiatives upside down. That explains the cowardice.
The hypocrisy, on the other hand, comes from their stubborn refusal to admit the reality that first cost is not full cost and that affordability is not synonymous with profitability. They know as well as anyone that the prevailing mortgage interest rates have far greater impact on the number of home sales than all the regulatory burdens combined.
What is more, the NAHB formula deliberately ignores the impacts of energy costs, property taxes, escalating insurance premiums, home upkeep, repair and maintenance, not to mention potential catastrophic events. The combination of these ongoing expenses imposes far greater impacts than their simplistic “dollars-per-square-foot” calculations will ever recognize.
Most unfortunate of all, is the reality that both the association and the Administration insist on focusing entirely on the “cost” or “price” of a house, as if they were discussing any other commodity in the economy. The real concern needs to be in how to positively impact home value and identify that as the common goal of both government and industry.
Somewhere along the way, all those involved, including would-be home buyers, have lost sight of the importance of the inter-generational prosperity and pride of ownership that are the real backbone of opportunity and financial security for most American working families.
We desperately need to restore home ownership to its rightful place in the culture, enterprise, and governance of the nation.