(The Center Square) – A new bill introduced in the California Assembly would give homeowners who are selling to first-time home buyers a tax break to make home buying possible for many who would not otherwise get their desired house.
Assembly Bill 1714 would give new home sellers a tax break in the amount of 40% of the costs they paid for repairs needed to close on a house they are buying. The cap on the tax break is $25,000, according to the bill.
Homeowners who sell a house between Jan. 1, 2028 and Jan. 1, 2033 can claim this tax credit if the bill passes.
“AB 1714 creates a targeted personal income tax credit for sellers who complete repairs that are required for a first-time buyer using CalHFA assistance,” Assemblyman David Tangipa, R-Fresno, testified during a Monday’s hearing of the Assembly Revenue and Taxation Committee.
“This bill is not about cosmetic upgrades or optional remodeling or rewarding ordinary home improvements. It is narrowly focused on repairs that create artificial scarcity for first-time home buyers,” said Tangipa, who sponsored the bill.
Prior to his 2024 election to the Assembly, Tangipa worked as a Realtor in Central California who focused on helping first-time home buyers buy homes to break generational wealth, the legislator testified. Many of his customers who were first-time home buyers lost out on homes because they couldn’t afford to make required repairs to their desired home were required under the terms of a California Housing Financing Authority, an agency that awards mortgages to low- and moderate-income Californians.
“Really, it’s a negotiation tool to help people who are the most disadvantaged qualify and have a foot in the door,” Tangipa told the committee. “As a Realtor who has helped so many qualify for this program, we were losing negotiations time and time again because when a seller has multiple options to go with, they choose the easiest one for them.”
The Franchise Tax Board, the state agency that regulates tax collection and tax breaks in California, estimated the bill would result in a revenue loss of $4.5 million in fiscal year 2027-28 and $9.2 million in fiscal year 2028-29, according to a legislative analysis.
Nonprofit organization United Way of Fresno and Madera Counties is in support of the bill, while the California Federation of Teachers opposed the bill, according to the analysis. A representative from United Way also testified in support of the bill on Monday.
However, not everyone supported the bill in their testimony during the bill hearing.
“We doubt whether the tax benefits proposed in the bill would provide real relief or improvement in first-time home buyers programs in this state,” Danielle Kando-Kaiser, a lobbyist for the California Tax Reform Association, testified in opposition to the bill. “It could have a disadvantage to those home buyers by obligating the buyer rather than the seller to make the necessary repairs, which is part of a negotiated process.”
The bill is one of a package of legislation introduced by Republican lawmakers this year aimed at reducing the cost of living and making living in California more affordable. A small coalition of Republican legislators announced the bills in a press conference held at the state Capitol in late March.
According to the Legislative Analyst’s Office, home prices in California exceed those in the rest of the country. A January 2026 report from that office shows that price for mid-tier homes in California are roughly $755,000, more than twice as expensive as the typical mid-tier home in the rest of the U.S. Between 2020 and 2022, home prices for mid-tier homes in the state increased 14% a year, while home prices for lower-tier homes increased 15% a year. The increasing unaffordability of the Golden State’s homes has led more than a third of the state’s residents to say they considered leaving the state because of housing costs, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.
