The Washington Report

In This Issue
Commercial Finance Report
Commercial Real Estate Industry Group Policy Statement

Conventional Residential Lending Report
Fannie Mae E-News for Real Estate Professionals

Environment Report
Houses Passes Climate Bill with Energy Labeling Exemption

Federal Tax Report
Silence Continues on Revenue Sources for Health Reform

Commercial Real Estate Industry Group Policy Statement

As directed by the participants from the 6/18 NAR-sponsored Commercial Real Estate Industry Outreach meeting, association staff met on Tuesday, June 23rd at the offices of the National Association of REALTORS® and drafted a Consensus Group Policy Statement. The staff followed the recommendations from the 6/18 meeting in creating a Group Policy Statement that outlines in simple terms the most important principles and goals that should be considered essential to the development of any policies or efforts aimed at restoring liquidity and revitalizing the commercial real estate credit markets.

Lisa Brechtel 202-383-1090

back to top

Fannie Mae E-News for Real Estate Professionals

Fannie Mae has set up an electronic newsletter targeted to real estate professionals. You can subscribe to get the latest real estate news from Fannie Mae on new policies, products, and other topics important to real estate professionals. You may unsubscribe at any time.

To subscribe, click here

Jeff Lischer 202-383-1117, Tony Hutchinson 202-383-1120

back to top

Houses Passes Climate Bill with Energy Labeling Exemption

The U.S. House of Representatives approved H.R. 2454, the American Clean Energy and Security Act by Reps. Waxman (D-CA) and Markey (D-MA). The bill, re-numbered H.R. 2998, includes NAR-supported provisions which were championed by Rep. Perlmutter (D-CO) that exempt existing homes and buildings from the bill's energy labeling program.

After multiple meetings to discuss the Waxman-Markey bill, the NAR Land Use, Property Rights and Environment Committee directed NAR staff to concentrate on the real estate provisions in the bill. As a result, NAR issued calls for action and made this a talking point for Capitol Hill visits during its recent Midyear meeting. Overall, Realtors succeeded in making a number of positive changes to the bill. Thanks to Realtors, the House-approved bill:

Limits the energy labeling provisions to new construction only;
Prohibits the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating carbon emissions from residential and commercial buildings under the Clean Air Act;
Eliminates an early proposal to bolster a private right of action so that citizens could sue over minor climate risks under the Clean Air Act; that proposal is no longer in the bill as passed by the House;
Provides property owners with significant financial incentives, matching grants and the tools to make property improvements and reduce their energy bills; and
Establishes a multitude of green building incentives for HUD housing, including a loan program for renewable energy, block grants and credit for upgrades in mortgage underwriting.

While H.R. 2998 includes many positive changes, NAR will have additional opportunities to make further changes to address unresolved issues, such as the bill's building energy code targets. The Senate must still pass its version of an energy/climate bill. There would be a House-Senate conference to reconcile differences between the House and Senate bills. The timing for a vote in the Senate is not clear as the Environment and Public Works Committee still must develop the climate provisions to "cap and trade" carbon emissions. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee has approved the energy provisions (to which climate provisions would be coupled), which include building energy standards that are more realistic and preserve state flexibility to develop and enforce building codes. While the bill as approved by the House represents a significant improvement over the bill that was introduced, NAR will continue to work to address these issues as the legislative process continues.

Austin Perez 202-383-1046

back to top

Silence Continues on Revenue Sources for Health Reform

The health reform debate continues to lurch forward, but no reliable information is available to indicate where Congress might search for the additional new revenues to pay for the reforms. The Administration continues to press its proposal to limit the value of itemized deductions for upper income taxpayers, but neither Chairman Baucus nor Chairman Rangel has embraced that approach. The attached New York Times article lays out the revenue issues facing the committees.

The Congressional Research Service (CRS), the nonpartisan arm of Congress, has released a report on the various proposals for new revenues for health care reform. CRS comments about the mortgage interest deduction are noteworthy. CRS has measured the share of various itemized deductions that upper income taxpayers utilize. For example, if the grand total of all property tax deductions in a particular year was $10 billion, and the upper income groups utilized $1 billion of that total, then upper income taxpayers would be said to use 10% of all itemized deductions for property tax. Here's the actual finding for MID:

"The $500,000 and above class accounts for about 4% of mortgage interest deductions, about 3% of property taxes deductions on homes, and about 32% of charitable contributions deductions. Thus while some concern was expressed about the effect of this provision on housing, the major issue surrounding these proposals was the potential effect on charitable contributions."

Read the New York Times article

Linda Goold 202-383-1083

back to top

Go to archived weekly reports >>

Last Updated: 06/29/2009 Bira de Aquino