In the world of Washington lobbying this century, powerhouses have come and gone. The mighty have fallen low (see General Electric), the tiny have grown massive (see Facebook), and others have died only to rise again (see General Motors). Titans have clashed (see Google versus AT&T on net neutrality), and supposed rivals have teamed up (see the aluminum industry and the environmental lobby on fuel economy).
Amid this tumult, for the first 20 years of this century, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce consistently spent more on lobbying each quarter than any other institution in the country. But this iron law fell away, first in 2020 and then again this quarter. The new world champion of lobbying is the National Association of Realtors.
As housing sales slumped month after month, the NAR spent $29.3 million on federal lobbying expenses in this year’s second quarter, compared to the Chamber of Commerce’s $23.9 million. In 2020, for the year, the NAR also outspent the Chamber on lobbying. Every previous year, going back to 2000, the Chamber had been K Street’s heavy hitter. That makes sense, considering that the Chamber’s members include companies from every industry. The Chamber lobbies on energy, tech, telecom, healthcare, housing, taxes, trade, labor, and so on. That one industry lobby would outspend the entire umbrella lobby tells you something is going on.
MEMBERS OF CONGRESS POCKETED TENS OF THOUSANDS FROM LOBBYISTS LINKED TO CHINA’S HUAWEI
A big part of it is the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. That bill earned Realtors’ ire by reducing tax incentives for buying and owning expensive homes. Realtors opposed the expansion of the standard deduction — by giving tax cuts to everyone, it took away their privileged position of selling tax cuts only to owners of very expensive homes. Realtors also hated the cap on the amount of a mortgage that can be deducted, as well as the $10,000 limit on the deductible amount of state and local taxes.
On that last issue, the so-called SALT limitation, Realtors found an eager ally in Democratic congressional leaders, who began campaigning on this issue in 2018, in a bid to secure their place as the party of the well-to-do.
Realtors have also found themselves in an antitrust battle, lobbying filings show. NAR retains ACG Advocacy for $20,000 a month to lobby on “competition policy.” NAR is battling against a company that has launched an alternative online listing system, which competes against the more open and collaborative MLS. This internecine battle is proving costly, with lawsuits and lobbying eating up lots of cash and enriching many lawyers and lobbyists.
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Realtors face all sorts of headwinds these days. Interest rates are up after a solid decade of all-time lows. Houses aren’t being built very fast. We are 10 to 15 years out from when the Baby Bust — the continuous decline in birthrates since 2008 — starts to disrupt the market of would-be homeowners.
In response to those headwinds, the real estate lobby is apparently turning to Washington more than ever before.
