No big deal: Trump floats 50-year mortgage plan
President Donald Trump has downplayed the importance of possible 50-year mortgages as a way to make U.S. homes more affordable than typical 30-year loans.
“All it means is you pay less per month. You pay it over a longer period of time. That’s not a big factor. It might help a little bit,” Trump told Fox News, blaming his Democratic predecessor Joe Biden and the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policies for home affordability concerns.
Conservative politicians, influential figures in Trump’s Make America Great Again movement, and economists were among those who rejected the idea, saying it would take longer for people to own homes.
Republican U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene wrote of X: “Forever in debt, in debt for life!” Right-wing activist Mike Cernovich reacted with “Lifetime mortgage”.
U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte said FHFA is “working on” a fifty-year mortgage after Republican Trump posted a photo of himself on social media under the caption “50-Year Mortgage.”
“A total game changer,” Pulte wrote to X.
“We are also working on ways to provide relief on five-year mortgages, 10-year mortgages and 15-year mortgages,” he wrote separately Sunday, offering no details and adding that the agency was reviewing “assumable or portable mortgages.”
FHFA did not respond to requests for comment.
“Everyone is working together to implement the president’s policies,” White House spokesman Davis Ingle said, adding that any policy changes would be announced by the White House.
U.S. households are grappling with cost-of-living increases even as inflation grows at a slower rate. Prices were at the forefront in last week’s election, where Democrats won key races as Trump doubled down on his economic agenda.
“I don’t know that they’re saying that. I think the polls are fake. We have the best economy we’ve ever had,” Trump told Fox.
With house prices running high, on average around 60 per cent above pre-Covid-19 levels, affordability may continue to be an issue for many potential buyers.
While home sales rose in September, pending sales remained unexpectedly flat despite falling mortgage rates after the Fed cut benchmark interest rates last month.
Despite low rates, the U.S. housing market remains squeezed; The average age of first-time home buyers reached a record high of 38 last year; Well above the reading in the late 20s that was typical in the 1980s.
While Trump is calling for the Fed to make harsher interest rate cuts, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent blames current rates for an impending recession in the housing sector.
