With the midterm elections less than two weeks away, the Trump administration has rolled out a series of reforms aimed at easing the country’s housing affordability crisis that could save people "thousands" of dollars and restoring what the president has called “the American Dream of homeownership.”
Home prices are still rising after surging by over 30 percent since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and historically elevated mortgage rates, now back above the 7 percent mark, are exacerbating the long-term affordability struggles faced by homebuyers and homeowners in the country.
As homeownership continues slipping out of millions of Americans’ reach, President Donald Trump, who is facing a plunging approval rating and growing voters’ unhappiness over rising inflation, is feeling the pressure of keeping his 2024 campaign promise to improve housing affordability.
In a multi-part executive order signed on Thursday, Trump directed his administration to reduce the costs of buying, financing and refinancing a home, and make factory-built housing easier to produce. Included in the orders are measures aimed at reducing refinance closing costs, piloting proactive mortgage-insurance cancellation, supporting manufactured housing, and lowering rates on U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) direct loans.
Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) director Bill Pulte commented on the executive order on X, calling it “the greatest Housing Executive Order in History” and saying it could save “thousands and thousands” of dollars for millions of Americans.
On the same day, the Treasury Department issued proposed new regulations barring large institutional investors from buying up single-family homes, a measure Trump has long pushed for.
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What Measures Is the Trump Administration Pushing For?
The executive order, titled “Decreasing Housing Costs for the American People,” does mainly four things:
- Directing the FHFA to establish a pilot program that would cancel insurance premiums for government-backed mortgages for borrowers who have satisfied equity requirements. Only mortgages made after the pilot program is established would be eligible.
- Creating a new federal task force, the Task Force on Manufactured Housing Innovation, whose job will be to increase the quality and lower the cost of building a home. The task force, co-chaired by Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Scott Turner and Pulte, will have 180 days to recommend ways to standardize approvals and inspections of factory-built and modular homes, reduce duplicate reviews and encourage modern construction methods. It must also examine whether federal grants could incentivize state and local governments to standardize permitting for manufactured housing.
- Directing the FHFA to expand an existing pilot into a nationwide program allowing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to accept approved automated title reviews instead of a lender’s title-insurance policy for eligible refinances. The move is expected to cut title-insurance and refinancing costs.
- Directing the secretaries of USDA and VA to reduce interest rates on single-family loans made directly by their departments, within existing legal authority and available funding. The measure would lower interest rates on certain government home loans.
In a statement commenting on the executive order, Turner said Trump “is committing to bring even more innovative and affordable housing solutions to market for the American people.”
He added: “For decades, home building has been crippled by regulatory red tape, but the Task Force on Manufactured Housing Innovation can usher in the next generation of housing by modernizing standards and speeding up approvals across government.”
Meanwhile, the Treasury has proposed a rule Thursday that would bar large institutional investors from buying single-family homes, absent specific exceptions, saying that the proposal aims to “make homeownership more affordable for hardworking Americans.”
The proposal would implement one of the most controversial sections of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, the historic bipartisan housing package which became law without Trump’s signature earlier this year. Starting January 7, 2027, investors that control 350 or more single-family homes will not be allowed to buy more units, unless the purchase qualifies for an exception. Homes bought before the law was enacted on July 11, 2026, do not have to be sold.
"The Treasury’s proposed rule fills in the details of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act rather than changing its core,” Realtor.com senior economist Hannah Jones said in a statement shared with Newsweek.
She said that “the new material is mostly in the exceptions," adding that "for build-to-rent, a home must be newly built, bought within 18 months of its certificate of occupancy, and first occupied by a renter."
"The proposal sets no minimum rental period, but [the] Treasury is asking for comment on whether to add one so investors can’t build, rent briefly and quickly sell,” Jones said.
When it comes to renovate-to-rent, Jones explained that "the home must fail structural or core-system building-code elements at purchase, and the investor must fix all material deficiencies and spend at least 15 percent of the purchase price on improvements.”
“The proposal also sets conditions for programs that help renters buy, including financial support toward a purchase and a right of first refusal," she said. "And it clarifies that the rule applies to entities ‘in the business of’ investing in single-family homes, so incidental holders are not covered.”
What Do These Proposed Measures Mean for Homebuyers and Homeowners?
Previous studies on housing affordability show that the measures pushed forward by Trump’s executive order could help American households save money, as the administration says.
According to a study published in September by LendingTree, 59 percent of mortgage holders say they are “house poor,” with half saying their payments increased over the past two years. The order’s mortgage-insurance cancellation pilot could help eligible homeowners bring down their monthly expenses, LendingTree told Newsweek.
The order also pushes to lower refinance closing costs. Based on another LendingTree study that was published in May, which found that nearly one-third of recent homebuyers could potentially save more than $2,000 a year by refinancing, based on rates observed in April, the measure could help borrowers recoup their upfront expenses and realize savings sooner.
The impact of the order could be even bigger when it comes to factory-built and modular homes. Manufactured-home prices—normally lower than other types of homes—jumped 58 percent between 2018 and 2023, according to LendingTree, pushed by high demand and low inventory. A boost in inventory—for whatever type of homes, but especially the most affordable options—has long been touted by experts as the only way to solve the country’s housing affordability crisis.
The proposed regulations issued by the Treasury, on the other hand, are unlikely “to move the needle much” at the national level, Jones said.
“Mega investors made up only about 0.6 percent of all home purchases in the first half of 2026. Roughly two-thirds of investor purchases came from small investors, who are unaffected,” she said. “Mega investors were also already pulling back, with buying activity down 31.8 percent year-over-year in the first half, so the rule formalizes a trend already under way.”
The effect could be more noticeable in local markets or neighborhoods where institutional investors are concentrated, Jones said and the exceptions may redirect some of their buying toward new construction rather than existing homes.
The proposal is open for public comment through roughly late November, so details could still change.
Newsweek contacted the National Association of Realtors, Redfin, Realtor.com and LendingTree for comment by email on Friday.
Newsweek’s reporters and editors used Martyn, our AI assistant, to produce this story. Learn more about Martyn here. Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Anthony Murray and Matthew Robinson.