NAHB Criticizes Proposal on Mortgage Interest

Washington, DC, Nov. 11, 2010 -- The National Association of Home Builders has criticized a proposal to scale back the mortgage interest deduction that is part of draft proposal from the co-chairs of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform.

"For a battered housing industry, which is struggling with a 21% unemployment rate among construction workers, this is absolutely the worst time to be considering changes to the mortgage interest tax deduction," NAHB Chairman Bob Jones said.

"Tampering with the deduction would be a major setback for today's slowly emerging housing recovery. It would disrupt the plans of young households who are gathering their financial resources to purchase a home. And it would impose a substantial tax burden on existing home buyers, many of whom continue to stay current with their mortgage payments even as they struggle to make ends meet."

"Diminishing or ending the deduction would exert further downward pressure on home prices, leaving more home owners with mortgages larger than the value of their property and fueling even more foreclosures. It is absolutely clear that the mortgage interest deduction should not be on the table."