US estate agents lobby Congress to keep homeowners' tax breaks
US estate agents are urging legislators not to cut mortgage interest deductions for local taxes for fear of prompting a fall in house prices. The Senate version of the Republican tax plan would remove the deduction for local property taxes, while the House version would cap it at $10,000, and both would increase the period of homeownership required before qualifying for capital gains taxes, a move estate agents worry would reduce transaction volumes. According to analysis from Moody's, the most expensive property markets, such as New York or New Jersey, could be the worst hit by the proposed measures.

For decades, the real estate industry has benefited from generous tax deductions that raise home values by making it cheaper for people to own property and shoulder their local taxes. Now, as the Republican tax plan makes its way through Congress, the industry is worried that the fallout will harm its business by making homeownership less valuable.

Around the country, real estate organizations are calling legislators, warning clients about their future tax bills and staging protests, all in an effort to keep homeowners as a favored class in the tax code. “We don’t consider ourselves to be Republicans or Democrats,” said Linda Jay, chief executive of the Bakersfield Association of Realtors in central California. “We are the Realtor party.”

Last week, Ms. Jay and other agents congregated in front of the local office of Representative Kevin McCarthy, the House majority leader, holding signs and chanting, “Save homeownership.”

“We know he has a tough job to do,” she said. “But we certainly are not going to shy away from letting him know what our feelings are.”