Congress doubles home-sale tax break for wealthy sellers, calls it housing relief

What it does

This bill doubles the federal tax exclusion for gains on the sale of a primary home from $250,000 to $500,000 for single filers and from $500,000 to $1,000,000 for married couples filing jointly. It also indexes these amounts to inflation annually starting in 2025. The effect: homeowners can sell their primary residence and exclude twice as much profit from federal income tax, reducing their tax liability on the sale.

Why we flagged it

The bill is a straightforward tax-code amendment that reduces federal tax liability on home-sale gains for a specific taxpayer class. It is not a housing-supply or affordability measure despite the title's framing.

What the text implies

• Title 'More Homes on the Market Act' implies a housing-supply or affordability goal, but the mechanism is a tax cut for sellers, not a policy to increase housing stock or lower purchase prices for buyers.
• Benefit is regressive: homeowners with large capital gains (typically higher-income households) capture the full tax savings; renters and first-time buyers receive no benefit despite being the groups most constrained by housing costs.
• Inflation indexing (starting 2025) means the exclusion thresholds will rise automatically, further reducing federal revenue from this tax category over time without future legislative action.
• The bill does not address whether increased after-tax proceeds for sellers will translate to lower home prices or increased supply; economic theory suggests sellers may simply pocket the tax savings rather than reduce asking prices.

Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.

Who it affects

Homeowners who sell at a profit benefit from lower tax liability, but the benefit is concentrated among those with substantial home equity and capital gains — primarily higher-income households. Lower-income renters and first-time buyers see no direct benefit; the bill does not address housing affordability or supply, despite its title.

Who stands to gain

• homeowners with substantial home equity and capital gains
• higher-income households (primary beneficiaries of tax exclusion increases)

Named in the bill

Internal Revenue Code Section 121, U.S. Department of Treasury, homeowners (individual taxpayers)

Where it stands

158 cosponsors: 91 Democrats, 66 Republicans, 1 Independents.

• Feb 13, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
• Feb 13, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Ways and Means · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means”

Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.

Money around this bill

14 lobbying clients named this bill on 14 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $33,610,762 in lobbying spend. A filing names 9 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.

More lobbying clients named this bill than 94% of bills with at least one filing.

Jimmy Panetta, the sponsor, reported $1,676,556 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle. $5,000 of that came from 1 PAC tied to these lobbying clients.

• Chamber of Commerce of the U.S.A. — $16,950,000 on 1 filing
• National Association of Realtors — $14,580,000 on 1 filing
• American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees — $690,000 on 1 filing
• Home Depot — $680,000 on 1 filing
• American Land Title Association — $260,000 on 1 filing

Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 21, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.