Trump pushes for lower rates, ban on investor home purchases

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By ALEX VEIGA, Associated Press
President Donald Trump’s plans for bringing homeownership within reach of more Americans involve pushing for lower interest rates on home loans and credit cards, and banning large institutional investors from buying single-family homes.
In his address Wednesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Trump outlined four policies his administration is pursuing in a bid to make homeownership more affordable. Each had been previously mentioned by him or his administration in recent weeks, part of a broader push to address affordability generally, a hot-button issue with voters heading into the midterms.
The U.S. housing market has been in a sales slump dating back to 2022, when mortgage rates began to climb from pandemic-era lows. The combination of higher mortgage rates, years of skyrocketing home prices and a chronic shortage of homes nationally following more than a decade of below-average home construction have left many aspiring homeowners priced out of the market. Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes remained stuck last year at 30-year lows.
In his remarks, Trump stressed the need to lower interest rates on home loans and credit cards in order to give aspiring homebuyers more financial flexibility to save up for a down payment on a home and more purchasing power when it comes time to buy.
“We can drop interest rates to a level, and that’s one thing we do want to do,” said Trump. “That’s natural. That’s good for everybody. You know, the dropping of the interest rate, we should be paying a much lower interest than we are.”
Trump noted that he has directed the federal government to buy $200 billion in mortgage bonds, a move he said would help reduce mortgage rates. Trump said earlier this month that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have $200 billion in cash that would be used to buy mortgage bonds. However, some economists have said such a move would likely have only a minimal impact on mortgage rates.
Trump, who spent much of last year demanding that the Federal Reserve lower interest rates, also reiterated that he will be announcing a new Fed chair soon to replace Jerome Powell, whose term as chair is due to end in May.
“I think they’ll do a very good job,” he said.
Still, Fed rate cuts don’t always translate into lower mortgage rates. That’s what happened in the fall of 2024 after the central bank cut its main rate for the first time in more than four years. Instead of falling, mortgage rates marched higher, eventually cresting above 7% in January this year. At that time, the 10-year Treasury yield was climbing toward 5%.
More recently, the average rate on a 30-year mortgage was at 6.06% last week, its lowest level in more than three years, according to mortgage buyer Freddie Mac.
While lower mortgage rates help boost homebuyers’ purchasing power, the biggest hurdle many aspiring homeowners face is being able to save up for a down payment.
To that end, Trump said he is asking Congress for legislation that would mandate credit card issuers cap interest rates at 10% for one year — after the industry ignored his demand earlier this month that they implement the cap by Jan. 20. The average rate on credit cards is around 21%, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Trump also reiterated that he wants to block large institutional investors from buying single-family homes, so that Americans don’t have to compete with such well-funded rivals when they shop for a home.
“Homes are built for people, not for corporations, and America will not become a nation of renters,” he said.
Trump issued an executive order late Tuesday directing his administration to review the laws that govern how big institutional investors make large purchases of single-family homes and determine whether such investors are engaging in anti-competitive practices.
The order, which exempts companies that build homes for rent, also includes provisions to give ordinary home shoppers the opportunity to buy foreclosed homes before investors do and bars government housing agencies from guaranteeing, insuring or otherwise facilitating large institutional investors from buying single-family homes.
Still, it’s unclear how the administration will define a large investor. And while some metro areas, like Atlanta and Phoenix, have a larger share of corporate-owned single-family homes for rent, the vast majority of rental houses are owned by small individual investors, which wouldn’t be barred from buying more homes.
“It probably won’t make a noticeable impact on the housing market,” said Daryl Fairweather, chief economist at Redfin.
Trump was expected to give more details about his housing policy in the speech, but devoted most of it to other subjects. Kevin Hassett, director of Trump’s National Economic Council, told Bloomberg that Trump was just “foreshadowing” an upcoming policy announcement. The White House is reportedly considering a new way for Americans with a 401(k) retirement savings plan to fund the down payment on a home, among other policies.
AP Business Writer Bernard Condon contributed to this report.