Thursday, October 22, 2026
President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order aimed squarely at the monthly bills squeezing American homeowners, moving to cancel mortgage insurance premiums sooner, slash the closing costs of refinancing, and push down interest rates on government-backed home loans.
The order directs the Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) to create a pilot program that will proactively cancel borrowers' mortgage insurance premiums once they have satisfied their equity requirements based on the current market value of their homes. For qualifying families across the country, that wipes out a large monthly expense many homeowners keep paying long after they have built up the equity that should have ended it.
Trump also ordered the FHFA to cut the cost of refinancing by expanding its title insurance waiver pilot into a permanent program, allowing more borrowers to use cost-friendly alternatives to title insurance. The change is designed to reduce the closing costs of refinancing and the monthly expenses that come with owning a home.
The order establishes a Task Force on Manufactured Housing Innovation, co-chaired by the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and the FHFA Director. The task force is charged with raising the quality of factory-built housing and lowering the cost of building a home by expanding the use of modern manufacturing methods in the production of factory-built homes eligible for federal housing programs.
The President also directed the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to reduce interest rates on single-family home loans made by their respective departments — direct rate relief aimed at rural homebuyers and at veterans who have earned the benefits of a VA loan.
"Homeownership is a vital pillar of our great Nation," the White House said in announcing the order, adding that unnecessary regulations and outdated mortgage processes have made homeownership unaffordable and driven up closing costs. The administration says Trump is removing that red tape so the American dream of owning a home is within reach again.
Thursday's order is the latest move in an aggressive housing agenda. In January 2026, Trump signed an executive order preventing large institutional investors from buying single-family homes that could otherwise be purchased by families, and he called on Congress to codify the policy. That same month, he directed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to purchase $200 billion in mortgage-backed securities to drive down borrowing costs.
In March 2026, Trump signed another executive order reducing the regulatory burdens that had driven up mortgage costs, limited access for creditworthy borrowers, and weakened community bank participation in lending. His administration has also eliminated burdensome insurance requirements for federally backed mortgages, and the Working Families Tax Cuts doubled the investment limit for Fannie and Freddie's Low Income Housing Tax Credit, boosting housing supply in rural and underserved communities.
The White House says the President's crackdown on illegal immigration and H-1B visa abuse has also helped ease pressure on home prices and rents, and that he remains focused on delivering relief from the economic mismanagement of the Biden era so families can prosper and achieve the American Dream of owning a home.
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Thursday, October 22, 2026
As reported on Instagram
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday aimed at lowering the cost of owning a single-family home, a move the White House described as an effort to reduce regulatory barriers, lower closing costs and promote innovation across the housing and mortgage markets. The order, titled "Decreasing Housing Costs For The American People," states that "unnecessary regulatory requirements for borrowers and outdated mortgage origination processes have driven up closing costs and made homeownership unaffordable."
The order directs Bill Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, to create a pilot program under which Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will periodically review the single-family loans they own, guarantee or securitize, using automated valuation models and other data to assess each property's current market value. Borrowers who are found to meet the equity and payment-history requirements will have their mortgage insurance cancelled proactively, without having to apply for its removal. According to the White House, that "will eliminate a large monthly expense for qualifying Americans across the country."
To cut the cost of refinancing, the order makes the FHFA's title insurance waiver pilot permanent. The program allows more borrowers to use lower-cost alternatives to title insurance when they refinance, reducing closing costs and the monthly expenses of owning a home. The order also directs the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to reduce interest rates on the single-family home loans made by their departments, which serve rural borrowers and veterans.
A fourth part of the order establishes a Task Force on Manufactured Housing Innovation. The task force is charged with increasing the quality of factory-built housing and lowering the cost of building a home by applying modern manufacturing methods to homes eligible for federal housing programs.
Pulte celebrated the signing on X, calling it a "HUGE WIN FOR AMERICA!!!" In a separate post, he wrote: "President Trump's Executive Order today is the greatest Housing Executive Order in History. Because of President Trump's bold actions to put Americans First, millions of Americans will save thousands and thousands of dollars."
The signing comes at a difficult moment in the housing market. Building permits, housing starts and pending sales for September all came in significantly lower than economists expected, as high prices and mortgage rates above 7% bring transactions to a near standstill. Most of the measures in the order would not reduce costs right away for new homebuyers; the savings arrive once a borrower has built a certain amount of equity in the home or chooses to refinance.