Real Estate Lobbying

The National Association of Realtors is the 8th largest lobby in the US. The amount the Real Estate industry spends annually has grown tremendously as shown in the chart comparing Real Estate lobbying to Oil & Gas lobbying activity between 1998 and 2005 (figures in millions.) According to their site, “NAR supports incentives to increase the supply of affordable single family housing.” The usage of the word “Affordable” is a precious and sacred cow in the housing industry. Ironically, here is the usage example for “Sacred Cow” from the American Heritage Dictionary: “That housing project is a real sacred cow: the city council won’t hear of abandoning it.” With an interminable latent demand for single family housing, some may argue that such housing will, in fact, never be affordable. Speaking of latent demand and its effects, 2 new lanes are being added to the 405 freeway near CMACM headquarters, turning the notorious freeway from a parking lot… into a bigger parking lot. GM, Toyota, DaimlerChrysler, and Ford top the list of contributors the Automotive lobby. We, the citizens, also pay.