If Prices Are So High, Why Aren't People Selling?

Sure there's a lot of equity out there. Owners can make a killing. Then why are so few owners not selling?

Prices are too high to rent. If they sell, the rents are way higher than their current fixed mortgage.

Prices are too high to buy. If they sell, it's hard to upgrade these days unless you move to a different location. Most people might make a lateral move or even downsize, but it's hard to upgrade.

At the end of the day, it's better to own.

Tax Reform & Real Estate - Basic Things You Need to Know

Overall thoughts: Buyers getting a loan of more than $750k will be hit. This will affect the sale of properties with loans above this amount as some buyers may have become reluctant.

1. Effects on the immediate housing situation:

2. Current homeowners are in the clear. But from 2018 on, anyone buying a new home will only be able to deduct the first $750,000 of their mortgage debt. That's down from $1 million. This $750,000 is across multiple homes, not per home. So if you wanted to buy two homes with a 500k mortgage each, you will have 1Mil in mortgage debt, and you can only deduct 750k of that.

3. Homeowners who sell their house for a gain will still be able to exclude up to $500,000 (or $250,000 for single filers) from capital gains, so long as they're selling their primary home and have lived there for two of the past five years.