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"Decreasing Housing Costs For The American People," states that "unnecessary regulatory requirements for borrowers and outdated mortgage origination processes have driven up closing costs and made homeownership unaffordable."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.