Letters to the Editor for September 4, 2026

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To the Editor:

What do Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, New Zealand, Ireland, Austria, Belgium, Netherlands, and Switzerland have in common? They don’t charge capital gains tax on the sale of a personal residence.

This is getting to be the main cause of our housing crisis in this nation. Today, 41% of all homes are owned by baby boomers or people with an “empty nest.” This is approximately 35 – 40 million homes. The owners are reluctant to sell the homes because they’re facing capital gains tax as much as $500,000 to $1 million. If the capital gains tax were lifted, probably in less than a year 10 million homes would hit the market.

There is approximately $17 trillion of equity tied up in single-family homes. So boomers are trapped in their homes by this tax, which in many cases will be 40% of what they get out of the house and may well be 25% to 50% of their net worth, but if they hang on until their children inherit the house, then there will be no tax, because there is a step up in basis on death.

This would be about 10 times the annual construction of new houses. While the silver tsunami may be real, it won’t get here in time. It’s going to take place over the next 30-odd years.

It’s time to have a national conversation about this misguided tax policy. It is creating massive distortion in the housing market with its lock-in effect. Let’s make better use of our housing stock, free the boomers from this tax, and allow the younger generation to make use of these houses.

Edward Hirshberg
Alameda