NAR Report Shows Public Disapproval of Real Estate Rule for Banks

WASHINGTON, DC-A significant number of surveyed registered voters have given the “thumbs down” on a recently instituted real estate-related regulation put in place by an entity of the US Department of the Treasury. The National Association of Realtors commissioned a survey by polling firm Public Opinion Strategies that found that a whopping 84% of the 1,000 voters questioned are against the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency rule, a law instituted in February that exempts national banking institutions from state real estate lending regulations.

“National banks–huge companies that already enjoy the advantages of a federal charter–will dominate real estate,” NAR president-elect Al Mansell says, describing what NAR believes will be the inevitable effects of the OCC rule. “Costs will rise. Service will decline. Competition in real estate will go the way of competition in banking itself.”

With the study and additional convincing evidence in tow, 7,500 realtors in town for the industry’s Midyear Legislative Meetings & Trade Expo are descending upon the halls of Congress to convince members to give a second look at the OCC rule and other legislative measures that give banks the upper hand.