Los Angeles voters passed Measure ULA in 2022 to tax real estate sales over $5 million in order to fund subsidized housing programs. But new research from UCLA and RAND finds that the policy may be slowing the growth of…
How LA’s Transfer Tax Cost Schools and Local Governments $25 Million in Lost Revenue
New research reveals that Los Angeles Measure ULA, which imposes a 4% tax on property sales over $5M (5.5% above $10M) and allocates the revenue to affordable housing, has significantly reduced property transactions needed for housing development, undermining its own…
Parcel Tax in California: Findings from New Data Sources
Published: 2020 | Soomi Lee | CityScape Abstract This article examines parcel taxes in California counties, cities, and special districts. Unique to California, the parcel tax is commonly known as a lump-sum tax applied to parcels of real property to…
The Rare Occurrence of Mortgages Over $500,000
Published: 2017 | NLIHC Abstract The report reveals that only 5% of the mortgages obtained between 2013 to 2015 in the U.S. were larger than $500,000 and that lowering the mortgage interest deduction (MID) cap to $500,000 would have no…
Cities as Labor Markets
Published: 2014 | Alain Bertaud | Marron Institute NYU Abstract A city’s welfare depends on its labor market. As long as a labor market does not fragment into adjacent, smaller ones as it grows, the larger the market, the more…
The Mortgage Interest Deduction and its Impact on Homeownership Decisions
Published: 2014 | Christian A. L. Hilber and Tracy M. Turner | Review of Economics and Statistics Abstract This paper examines the impact of the combined U.S. state and federal mortgage interest deduction (MID) on homeownership attainment, using data from…
Housing Subsidies: Effects on Housing Decisions, Efficiency, and Equity
Published: 1985 | Harvey S. Rosen | Nation Bureau of Economic Research Abstract This paper surveys the effects of two of the most important federal policies toward housing: the “implicit subsidy” for owner-occupied housing in the income tax code, and…