National Association of REALTORS®
Mid-Year Meetings
Washington, D.C.
May 8 – 14, 2016
Report: Angie Hedgepeth
Government Affairs Director
Fayetteville Regional Association of REALTORS®
Legislative & Regulatory Issues Forum: Impact of Student Debt on Housing
Julian Castro – U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
- Thank you REALTORS® for being a voice for the housing industry and thank you for being a friend
- 40 million young Americans carry student loan debt
- Millenials are putting off buying their first home
- Generation X are shouldering the debt
- 20% of millenniasl are providing money to parents
- New Rule Change on Condominiums – HUD condominium rule is out the door!
- This rule change will give more builders market flexibility
Rohit Chopra – U.S. Department of Education (Senior Advisor)
- The U.S. Government currently has 1.2 trillion in federal student loans
- 42 million Americans carry federal student loans
- Average amount owed is $29,000
- 7 million young Americans are in default
- 3,700 loans each day are in default
- New rules are being drafted to cope with these loan payments
- Lenders are receiving the money vs. young graduates saving for their first house
- Owning a home and going to college cannot compete with each other
What is Congress Doing regarding these loans?
- HR 3179 – enhanced counseling bill
- HR 1434 – emergency loan refinance act
- S 85 – repay act of 2015
- S 1948 – access to fair financial options for repaying debt act
Sidebar: From Senator Richard Burr’s email on 5/16/2016
This week, the Treasury Department announced that student loan interest rates will drop again. Rates for the next school year will fall to 3.76 percent, down from 6.8 percent in 2012. This is great news for North Carolina students and families. The interest rate decrease will save North Carolina student more than a billion dollars this year alone.
Capital Hill Visits:
Senator Richard Burr Talking Points
- Technology is going to drive North Carolinas future. Technology can change our military, textiles, furniture and return business to North Carolina. We need to get rid of the hurdles
- We have to solve the healthcare issues
- Isle is currently in 19 countries
Senator Thom Tillis Talking Points
Q – Business are struggling with healthcare…is there any hope?
A – Affordable Care Act has damaged small business. I was talking with Parkers Barbeque in Wilson, NC recently and before the healthcare act, he employed 120 fulltime employees…now he has 50 less and they are part-time. Before the healthcare act, he provided healthcare options…now he cannot afford to.
(Burr) – Now you have Americans that say…”I owe nothing because it is free.” That is a burden the hospitals didn’t see coming!
Residential Economic Issues & Trends Forum:
Lawrence Yun, PHD – National Association of REALTORS® Chief Economist Talking Points
- Mutigenerational living is increasing
- Apartment living and home prices are increasing
- if rent is raised = higher inflation
- If lower rent = lower inflation
- Charleston South Carolina is booming due to the Boeing Manufacutureing Plant
- US Homeownership is at a 50 year low – in part student loans are to blame
- Students who graduate and paying loans = 5 year delay in buying a home
- Homeownership is low for minorities
- The forecast is steady for growth
- New home sales are impressive in 2014 = 437,000 and in 2015 = 600,000
- Mortgage rates will increase
- REALTOR® memberships will increase
Senator Elizabeth Warren (Massachusetts) – on student loan debt
- I am labored on the topic of student debt
- 7 out of 10 students had to borrow money last year
- 6 months after graduation…BAM, they get their first bill. This year, after graduating in May, 1 million graduates will receive bills in the mail. This year, there are 40 million with student loans and now you are adding another million
- We are pricing students out of the middle class
- We are weighing down the economy. The government made $66 billion in profit of the backs of young graduates
- Students are not the governments profit centers!
- Sgudents can’t refinance their loans but everyone else can…even the government
- We are working on the “Student Loan Refinancing Bill – Bank on Students Refinancing Act,” and the National Association of REALTORS® has just informed me that you (REALTORS®) will support this bill
