Thinking Outside The Box On Housing

Filed in archive Housing on May 19, 2005

My brother is a mortgage banker so I frequently discuss housing with him to get a bird's eye view of what's going on. A year or two ago I was tossing ideas around to spur some debate. One in particular dealt with the possibility of the US Tax Code being amended to do away with mortgage and property tax deductions. I argued that the massive runup in housing prices is quite similar to very late stage "blow off" moves seen in a variety of other markets just prior to decline. Interesting discussion but we left it at that. Probably returned our focus to a cold beer or something similar.

Much to my surprise I read John berry's article on Bloomberg today. It felt like deja vu all over again.

Why do I point this up? Because removing those two very attractive dedections could dramatically change the own vs. rent equation, the attractiveness of large mortgage amounts and the housing markets generally in areas of high property taxes like the Northeast. While this isn't really actionable information, it is something to keep in the back of your mind.