Fellow REALTOR®,
Thank you to all of you who attended C.A.R.’s Legislative Day in Sacramento earlier this month. Your attendance made it a great success! A record 2,500 of you turned out to hear Gov. Jerry Brown address us in the morning. Brown spoke about the state’s economy, which is in its eighth year of recovery. He noted that while the economy is doing well now, we need to have fiscal discipline. He also underlined the importance of REALTORS® who are in tuned into what’s going on in communities because they’re in every neighborhood. “You touch people in the most important time of their life, when they buy a house,” said Brown. In the afternoon, we headed over to the Capitol to discuss with our state legislators the issues of importance to the real estate industry.
While we were in Sacramento, C.A.R.’s Center for California Real Estate (CCRE) held two events that focused on housing – one related to millennials and another on state housing affordability. At Tuesday’s event, noted scholar and author Joel Kotkin presented new findings from his latest report, California’s Fading Promise: Millennial Prospects in the Golden State. He was joined by C.A.R. CEO Joel Singer for a lively discussion on how the lack of housing is threatening an entire generation of Californians. Here’s a video of highlights.
The second event brought together key State Legislators who shared unique perspectives on how California can address its historically low homeownership rate, housing affordability, and supply crisis. Sen. Toni Atkins (D-San Diego), Asm. Catharine Baker (Alameda/Contra Costa), and Asm. Jim Cooper (Sacramento/San Joaquin) joined me to discuss pressing housing issues, including increasing housing production, rent control, environmental protection, and tax reform. View a video highlights.
If that wasn’t enough activity, at Thursday’s Midyear Luncheon, C.A.R. CEO Joel Singer discussed how changing demographics and homeownership are changing California’s real estate business. He began by speaking about the metaphorical walls of bad housing policies that hinder homeownership. He recalled a prior initiative that C.A.R. championed in the early 1980s whose theme was, “Where Will Our Children Live?” and observed how that theme is still relevant today. Joel noted that while the national homeownership rate is stabilizing, California’s is not. He predicted that by 2025, California will become a majority renter state. Some of the factors contributing to the affordability crisis is a supply shortage. Fewer housing units turning over mostly due to a demographic shift, low rates on current mortgages, low property tax, and sellers not being able to find an affordable replacement home also exacerbate the problem. If you missed the luncheon, you may view the complete presentation.
Finally, the Midyear meetings may have just wrapped up, but it’s never too early to start planning for CALIFORNIA REALTOR® EXPO 2017, held in San Diego Oct. 10-12. That’s right, we’re back in San Diego for the first time in more than 10 years, so I hope you will join me as thousands of real estate professionals convene under one roof for three days of networking, learning, and sharing ideas. Don’t miss the opportunity to grow your business by learning new skills in our free sessions, meeting with more than 200 vendors on the exhibit hall floor, and making new connections at networking events throughout the week. Registration opens next week, May 24, at expo.car.org. I can’t wait to see you in San Diego!
Have a great weekend.
Sincerely,
Geoff McIntosh
2017 President
CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®