TRI Pointe Homes Inc

Tri Pointe Homes CEO Doug Bauer said Wednesday that the newly approved bipartisan housing bill is unlikely to solve America's affordability crisis, arguing the real barriers to affordable housing lie at the state and local level rather than in Washington. Speaking on CNBC, Bauer said the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act offers only marginal benefits for market-rate homebuilders such as Tri Pointe Homes Inc., despite investor optimism that sparked a sharp rally in homebuilder stocks. The bill, co-sponsored by Senator Elizabeth Warren and Senator Tim Scott, includes more than 45 provisions aimed at boosting housing supply and reducing construction costs, but Bauer said it primarily focuses on public housing and federal funding for low-income housing rather than stimulating market-rate construction. He also pushed back on the view that mortgage rates are the primary driver of housing demand, stating that jobs and consumer confidence are what really matter, and pointed to local regulation as the larger structural problem, citing a National Association of Home Builders study that found regulations add an average of $131,734 to the cost of a typical new single-family home, equal to 26.4% of the final sale price.