By Vanessa Saunders, MBA, MIMC , Broker Owner, Global Property Systems Real Estate.

After months of campaigning, weeks of voting and untold hours of the media digesting and regurgitating the story of the moment, we have survived another presidential election. Given the challenges we faced during the campaign - a deadly pandemic, an economy suffering the worst recession since the depression and numerous hot-button racial and immigration issues - we still have a real estate market that's white hot, and record-low mortgage rates that have pushed prices to new heights. So what issues can New York real estate expect for the next four years? Here’s the short list according to a report from Inman News.

Affordable housing
The Biden campaign’s housing proposal pinpointed the dearth of housing supply as the driving force behind the affordability crisis.

Biden has pledged to invest $640 billion in housing over the next 10 years. Among other things, the plan would provide “financial assistance to help hard-working Americans buy or rent safe, quality housing.”

Housing discrimination
Biden’s housing proposal tackles “redlining and other discriminatory practices” in the housing industry head-on, devoting a substantial portion of his proposal to these topics.

Rentals and evictions
Biden’s plan for rentals and renters calls for local “eviction diversion programs” that will include mediation, payment plans and financial literacy education programs.

Housing-related taxes
Biden has said that if elected he will roll back Trump’s tax cuts, presumably including deduction rules for things like mortgage interest and local and state taxes. Additionally, Biden plans to give first-time homebuyers a refundable, advanceable tax credit of $15,000. This would assist people in buying homes at a point in their lives when they often don’t make enough money to qualify for other kinds of tax benefits.

Homelessness
Another entire section of Biden’s housing proposal is dedicated to homelessness, stressing “a national strategy for making housing a right for all."

1031 Exchanges
In order to fund a child- and elderly-care spending platform, Biden has proposed abolishing 1031 “like-kind” exchanges for investors with annual incomes above $400,000, a much favored benefit in the industry. The additional federal funds would allow Biden’s administration to accrue $775 billion in government spending over the next 10 years to help provide care for these two groups.

The exchanges enable real estate investors to defer capital-gains taxes when they sell properties by directing the proceeds into new investments, a practice many investors take advantage of on a continual basis.

Whether any of this can be done without the help of a Republican senate while facing a dog’s breakfast of social and economic problems remains to be seen.
But at least now we know some of the things to expect.

Contact us at Global Property Systems for more information on selling, or to find your next home.

Photo by Bruno Bucar on Unsplash