California Association of Realtors CEO to retire

After more than 30 years leading one California’s powerhouse real estate trade group, and following a particularly volatile 12 months, Joel Singer will retire at year-end.

Singer took the helm as chief executive of the California Association of Realtors in 1989, after joining the organization 22 years earlier, according to the Los Angeles Daily News, which first reported his departure. The organization is forming a committee to appoint a replacement.

CAR has around 200,000 members and with Singer at the helm, became one of the most influential interest groups in the state.

The organization was a key driver behind the 1995 passage of the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act, which severely limited municipal rent control measures statewide. Singer led CAR in several successful battles against ballot measures to repeal Costa-Hawkins, including one in 2018. California’s passage of a rent reform law in 2019 did not eliminate Costa-Hawkins.

In 2018, Singer spearheaded the establishment of the Californians for Homeownership, a group that has been fighting restrictions on accessory dwelling units, or granny flats.

Leading up to last November’s election, CAR spent over $50 million in a successful fight against a ballot measure that would have scrapped some limits on property taxes.

Singer is the second CAR executive to leave the group in recent months — longtime chief economist Leslie Appleton-Young retired at the end of last year.

[LADN] — Dennis Lynch