Repealing the mortgage interest deduction would lower US home values

Evidence

The price of the mortgage interest deduction is believed to be factored into the price of homes by anywhere from 1 percent to 13 percent; such a repeal, the lobby would argue, will reduce the value of homes by a comparable amount. (The National Association of Realtors estimates a 10 percent decline, while the Council of Economic Advisers says the impact is likely to be merely “modest.”) — Dorothy A. Brown, The Whiteness of Wealth, 232

Categorization

• QUESTION: The huge spread between estimates (1-13%, NAR at 10%, CEA modest) is itself a story about how lobby-driven evidence works.