New Home SalesCENSUS
750K
U.S. Housing Market · 1986
U.S. Housing Market in 1986
1986 peakTax Reform ActS&L stress
Existing SalesNAR
3.47M
Median PriceNAR
$80,300
30Y MortgagePMMS
10.19%
1986 was a quiet peak. Total sales reached 4.22M, the highest since 1979, before the savings-and-loan crisis and tax reform began an eight-year drift lower in the late-1980s housing market.
Median existing-home prices hit $80,300, up 6.4% YoY — pace would moderate sharply over the next four years. The Tax Reform Act of 1986 eliminated several real-estate-favorable provisions and removed the deductibility of consumer interest, redirecting some demand toward home equity. Meanwhile, the savings-and-loan industry was beginning a slow-motion collapse that would take down 1,043 institutions by 1995.