
The recently passed Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 has made significant changes to longstanding tax benefits for homeowners. In a new report, Apartment List surveyed potential home buyers across the country to see how tax reform has impacted their plans for home ownership.
Overall, 26% of potential buyers say that they plan to delay purchase in response to the changes. On the other hand, 13% say that they expect to have a lower tax bill and plan to use those savings to achieve home ownership sooner.
Despite a significant reduction to longstanding tax benefits for homeowners, a majority of respondents report no changes to their home buying plans. It is important to note that the tax code changes do not have a uniform impact, and some markets will likely be affected more than others. In harder hit areas with high home values and property tax rates, sentiment skews more negative, and twice as many respondents report that they now plan to move out of state. While unlikely to be the decisive factor for most potential home buyers, the recent changes to the tax code amount to a shifting of incentives that make home ownership less attractive, which could result in softening demand, particularly in the hardest hit markets.
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