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Over the last year, the Federal Reserve has propping up the already historically high housing market by purchasing/backing trillions of dollars of mortgages, preventing a decline in house prices like in 2008.

This seems to be a largely bipartisan thing, with lots of support (even if only implicitly).

I'm not so much interested in debating the merits themselves, but rather understanding the political alignment.

Are there any U.S. politicians that vocally advocate for housing market costs going down instead of keeping them where they currently are?

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    Related reading: Rent Is Too Damn High Party
    – Andrew Grimm
    Jan 25, 2021 at 7:52
  • It's an iffy issue because that's where most (average) people's net worth is. See this q for instance: skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/49655/… Note that according to JP Morgan the 2006 peak has been exceeded already jpmorgan.com/insights/research/us-housing-risk
    – Fizz
    Jan 25, 2021 at 13:27
  • See also blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/the-housing-conundrum (That's written from the UK perspective, but the same conundrum applies elsewhere.)
    – Fizz
    Jan 25, 2021 at 13:40
  • @Fizz, certainly. There's an inherent conflict between buyers and sellers. The most common position favors sellers (and I can see why); I'm still curious if there's anyone who advocates for low housing prices favoring buyers. (EDIT: Thanks for link.)
    – Paul Draper
    Jan 25, 2021 at 13:41
  • US politicians are the political arms of the corporate class. It's equivalent to asking the fox, who rules over the chicken coop, to work against the interests of the housing industry/Wall Street.
    – Beginner Biker
    Jan 25, 2021 at 15:43

2 Answers 2

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For reasons explained in this blog you'd expect at best politicians aligned with renters and/or the youngest generations to say such things and even then they have to take into account the superior voting power of older generations who mostly own property. There seems to be a (historical, at least) correlation between politicians' positions on such matters and the percentage of people who own houses.

Consequently, the measures proposed will usually not say explicitly they want to drive down property values, but instead propose rent controls etc. In the US, politicians from the leftist wing of the Democratic party have made such proposals, e.g. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders have made such rent-control proposals at a national level.

On the other hand, studies on the effects of de-control have shown a greater increase in property values in de-controlled areas. So it is implicit that price controls will at least limit the rise in value of property prices.

In general, it seems based on surveys that both Republicans and Democrats would favor an increase in housing supply (and depending how much that supply increase is, it could limit or even drive down prices). But when it comes to specifics, e.g. building duplexes in the suburbs, such measures have been defeated on a broad bipatisan basis as well (and decried as "war on the suburbs"). Everyone wants an increase in supply, but mostly not "in their back yard".

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    It certainly does follow that rent-controlled property is worth less.
    – Paul Draper
    Jan 25, 2021 at 14:07
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Yes, there are. Biden fits into this category. Kinda.

MarketWatch says:

Joe Biden wants a first-time homeowner tax credit

And since a tax credit is essentially giving out money (less taxes for you = more money for you), you get paid by the government to be a first time home owner. This makes homes cheaper, but only if you are a first time home owner. For everybody else, homes cost the same amount.

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    The question was not about making homes cheaper but about reducing housing prices.
    – user4556274
    Jul 18, 2021 at 17:50
  • @user4556274 I thought those were the same thing, did I make a mistake?
    – Ekadh Singh - Reinstate Monica
    Jul 18, 2021 at 21:21
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    The tax credit you're mentioning is counter productive. More money actually means higher house prices, not lower prices.
    – Beginner Biker
    Jul 19, 2021 at 14:20
  • "Biden fits into this category" Oof. He must be terribly disappointed by last 6 months of changes to US housing prices.
    – Paul Draper
    Jul 21, 2021 at 16:43

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