News

CREFC Joins Broad Housing Coalition Calling on Lawmakers to Enact Policies Aimed at Broadening Housing Supply and Lowering Costs

April 30, 2024

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, a broad coalition of groups representing America’s housing providers, lenders and residents sent members of Congress and the Biden administration a letter outlining a number of bipartisan policies they can undertake that will expand housing supply while lowering costs as they improve housing equity and opportunity.

In more and more communities, too many hard-working Americans are unable to rent or buy homes due to increased housing costs. These rising costs are driven by a lack of supply created by barriers to development that increasingly make it extremely challenging, if not impossible, to build housing at almost any price point—particularly a price affordable to low- and middle-income families. This is not sustainable, particularly in a period of high inflation.

It is critical that we start now to enact policies that will incentivize new housing production and preservation. We recommend that policymakers immediately move forward on measures that would go a long way to increasing the nation’s housing supply and alleviate the housing affordability challenges communities across the country are facing.

Housing has always been a bipartisan issue. Policymakers at every level of government have a role to play in removing obstacles to housing production and preservation and in addressing the housing affordability challenges that have faced this country for decades.

Using a combination of incentive-based programs, streamlined regulatory burdens and innovative solutions, we stand ready to work with Congress and the administration to address the housing affordability challenges faced by communities across the nation.

Letter signatories include:

American Land Title Association

American Seniors Housing Association

Argentum

Building Owners and Managers Association

CCIM Institute

Commercial Real Estate Finance Council

Council for Affordable and Rural Housing

Housing Advisory Group

ICSC

Institute of Real Estate Management

Manufactured Housing Institute

Mortgage Bankers Association

NAIOP, the Commercial Real Estate

Development Association

Nareit

National Affordable Housing Management Association

National Apartment Association

National Association of Home Builders

National Association of Residential Property

Managers

National Housing Conference

National Leased Housing Association

National Multifamily Housing Council

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®

The Real Estate Roundtable

Contact  

News Archive

News

CREFC Submits Statement to Congressional Hearing

April 30, 2024

CREFC submitted a statement for the record ahead of a House Oversight and Accountability Subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services hearing titled “Health of the Commercial Real Estate Markets and Removing Regulatory Hurdles to Ensure Continued Strength.”

Click here for the full statement.

The hearing is today at 2:00pm ET and can be livestreamed here.

Witnesses include:

• Jeffrey DeBoer, President and CEO, The Real Estate Roundtable
• Jeffrey Weidell, CEO, NorthMarq

What they’re saying: The subcommittee chair’s press release outlines the goals of the hearing:

“President Biden’s policies throughout the pandemic have directly harmed American businesses by creating a worker shortage and inflation. Businesses are still struggling to recover from the impact of these policies as they face a mountain of debt and take out a record number of loans to pay rent. These businesses – including medical centers, warehouses, and offices – are crucial to our local economies and communities. We look forward to putting a spotlight on this issue and finding solutions to ensure lasting strength for American businesses,” said Subcommittee Chairwoman Lisa McClain (R-MI).

Go deeper: CREFC’s statement provides a brief market update and highlights market and regulatory challenges for CRE.

Contact 

News Archive

News

2024 Election Spending Skyrockets

April 30, 2024

The 2024 Election is shaping up to be one of the most expensive campaign seasons in history, right on the heels of a 2020 election that involved a record level of spending.

Why it matters: Election spending is skyrocketing, from $6.5 billion in 2016 to $14.4 billion in 2020 and an expected $15.9 billion in 2024. The amount raised by each party, how early funds are raised, and how quickly they are spent can tell us a great deal about the standings of various political races, beyond the polling.

How will this affect the races?

While there is a large amount of media focus on the financial advantage for Democrats, money does not always result in a victory.

• In 2016, former Senator and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton outraised former President Donald Trump $769 million to $433 million and lost the race for the presidency.
• In 2020, President Joe Biden won at the ballot box and was successful as a fundraiser, drawing $1.5 billion to Trump’s $1 billion.

However, a lack of funds can limit a candidate’s ability to travel, make expensive ad-buys, and organize voter registration and engagement. Fundraising for down-ballot Senate and House races can be even more crucial, as presidential campaigns receive much more media coverage.

Where does the 2024 Presidential election stand?

The race will once again come down to the following seven states: Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Georgia, Arizona, North Carolina, and Nevada. All of these states were decided by a margin of 3% or less in the 2020 election, with Arizona and Georgia being decided by less than 0.5%. Current polling has Biden and Trump within 5% of each other in these states.

Both of the Presidential campaigns as well as Congressional campaigns are raising record amounts. The Biden campaign and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) raised $90 million in March, while President Trump and the RNC raised $65.6 million.

• The Biden campaign and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) had $192 million cash on hand as of the end of March.
• The Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee (RNC) had $93 million cash on hand late last month.

The narrative on fundraising has largely focused on Biden’s significant and likely insurmountable cash advantage over the Trump campaign.

• The Trump campaign spent $3.6 million on legal fees in March alone.
• In March, Biden spent $29.2 million, compared with $6.3 million spent in February.
• A majority of the Biden campaign’s spending was driven by large ad-buys after the State of the Union address, when Biden began his “month of action” travel to swing states.
• Biden’s spending may be paying dividends. On March 1, Biden was trailing Trump by 2% in national polls and as of April 30, the two candidates are virtually tied.

Congressional Outlook:

• Pollsters and pundits have ever so slightly favored the Democrats to retake the House, while the Senate leans Republican with a very favorable GOP map. The combined national campaign committees of Republicans have raised $375 million, while the Democrats have raised $462 million.
• Senate: The amount raised for Senate Democratic candidates is $447 million and $273 million for the Republicans, a total of $734 million from both parties for 34 seats.
• Currently, Democratic House candidates have cumulatively raised $528 million, and Republican candidates have raised $574 million.

The chart below displays each party’s committee fundraising totals as well as their spending.

Source: https://ballotpedia.org/Party_committee_fundraising,_2023-2024

House and Senate Observations

• The House majority will likely come down to 22 races rated as toss ups, and at this point, most political analysts believe it to be a coin flip. For an analysis and outlook on the races read here.
• Seven seats in the Senate are rated as true “toss ups” and the combined amount of money raised in those races likely will top $300 million. The toss-up seats, their fundraising, and their polling is outlined in the chart below.
• Polling in Senate seats is conducted less frequently than for the Presidential election, and while Democrats lead in those races, the margins are expected to tighten.

House Fundraising

What does this mean: The election to control the House and the Senate is going to be extremely close and any majority won by either party will likely only be by a handful of seats.

• Presidential Race: The race is currently a tie and will once again come down to seven states that were decided by margins of 3% or less in 2020.
• House and Senate: Both chambers will be controlled by a narrow majority, regardless of which party gains control.
• 2024: This election will be the most expensive ever, and based on current polling is a toss-up at both the presidential and congressional level. Political spending continues to skyrocket cycle after cycle.

If you live in or near any of the seven swing states, you will almost certainly see and hear the results of all this fundraising this fall. Massive ad-buys are expected to surge after this summer’s party nominating conventions.

Contact James Montfort (Jmonfort@crefc.org) with any questions. 

Contact 

News Archive