Is Tax Reform Having a Negative Effect on SCV Real Estate Sales?

While driving through the neighborhood over the past weekend, I noticed an unusual number of open house signs on almost every major intersection, seeming to signal there are many more homes for sale than in recent months.

I checked the Zillow estimate of the value of my home, and it had been reduced over $10,000 just in the past two months. It seems that despite rosy economic news, including the much-ballyhooed 4.1 percent growth in U.S. gross domestic product for the second quarter of this year, something is happening locally that is contrary to a rosy economic picture nationally.

Is there really an increase in homes for sale in Santa Clarita, and if so, what triggered this change? One factor may be the steady increase in mortgage interest rates, which means that some who might have qualified for a loan previously are now priced out of the market.

Also, there may be an awareness among potential buyers that the benefits of home ownership have been lessened by the tax reform legislation passed by Congress and signed by President Trump.

Is this tax change for 2018 beginning to have a negative effect upon real estate sales in California, thanks to a new limitation on deductibility of state income tax and property taxes ($10,000 total) that penalizes high-tax states like California?

If so, will we vote to return our incumbent representative to the House, Steve Knight, R-Palmdale, who voted for this legislation?

Thomas Oatway Santa Clarita