Donald Trump has a 10-point lead over Hillary Clinton in this poll

Donald Trump has a 10-point lead over Hillary Clinton in this poll

Published: July 8, 2016 8:06 p.m. ET

More Americans see Trump as better for real-estate prices than Hillary Clinton

Despite his multiple professional bankruptcies, some Americans believe billionaire developer Donald Trump might still know more about real estate than his rival Hillary Clinton.

Some 39% of those polled said a Donald Trump presidency would improve U.S. real-estate values more than if former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (29%) became commander-in-chief, according to a survey carried out last month of 2,000 Americans by the Harris Poll on behalf of Trulia, a San Francisco-based real-estate research group.

Only 15% of Americans said that real-estate prices would fall under Trump, slightly higher than Clinton’s polling at 13% seeing a real estate decline under her presidency.

“Americans give an overall edge to Trump in our poll when it came to a strong housing market,” the report, released July 7, said.

Notwithstanding most registered Democrats’ antipathy for all things Trump, 47% of those identifying as Democrats said housing prices would rise if the billionaire real-estate developer was elected, compared with just 24% who said the same about Clinton. Independents by a margin of 35% to 25% also saw Trump being better for real-estate prices. Trump owns his largest margin on the issue among younger voters aged 18 to 39, the poll showed, with a 21-point advantage of 49% to 28%.

Perhaps echoing his populist campaign of Americans left behind in the economic recovery, Trump performed best during the primary in counties that had seen only modest recovery (less than 4%) in real-estate prices since the 2009 housing crash, while losing those that gained 6.6% or more. For her part, Hillary Clinton won counties in the primary where real estate appreciation was a modest 3%, while losing counties where real estate gains were 7% or better to Senator Bernie Sanders.

Still, even with the rate of Homeownership at a near 50-year low, the issue of housing has taken a back seat in this election cycle, at least compared with the 2008 and 2012 election cycles.

“Today, the housing market and U.S. economy look much healthier, and as such, candidates have turned their attention to more popular issues such as immigration, gun control, and national security,” said Ralph McLaughlin, Trulia’s chief economist.

That’s not to say that neither candidate has ignored housing. Clinton has targeted $25 billion of her proposed $125 billion Economic Revitalization Initiative toward improving Homeownership. Trump, meanwhile, has spoken about eliminating the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which funds much of the affordable housing initiatives in the U.S., but has long been plagued by accusations of mismanagement and waste.

Clinton also has proposed a matching grant for families who make less than the median income and who save up to $10,000 for a home.

She also attacked Trump in May for his comments in 2006 suggesting that he wanted the real-estate market to crash so he could swoop in and buy properties cheaply. Trump said he was merely looking for a decline in the market in order to profit from a good buying opportunity. Trump has also attacked Clinton for taking campaign donations from banks and lenders that profited from the housing collapse and subprime mortgages.

While Trump has suffered some high-profile failures of his Atlantic City casino businesses over the past 25 years, Hillary Clinton isn’t immune either from her own real estate debacle. The Clintons role in the failed real estate investment known as the Whitewater Development Corporation in Arkansas led to a federal investigation and multiple convictions of several Clinton partners and associates.

Hillary Clinton herself came under scrutiny over missing billing records for her work as legal counsel at the Rose Law Firm for the failed savings and loan, Madison Guaranty, whose president, James McDougal, was a co-investor in Whitewater. No charges however, ended up being filed against the Clintons, though Susan McDougal, one of the Whitewater partners with the Clintons was convicted and served nearly two years in prison. McDougal however was pardoned by President Bill Clinton before he left office in 2001.

Roughly 80% of Americans who participated in the Harris Poll said that no matter which candidate won, it wouldn’t impact their housing situation. Clinton and Trump were both tied with just 6% of Americans saying they’d be more likely to buy a home, as well as 4% saying they see themselves moving from renters to owners.

Donald Trump has a 10-point lead over Hillary Clinton in this poll ...