Trump Signs Orders Aimed at Mortgage Access, Housing Costs

President Donald Trump signed two executive orders on Friday aimed at making homeownership more affordable, the latest step by the administration to ease cost-of-living concerns as the Iran conflict drives up gas prices and rattles markets.Author of the article:You can save this article by registering for free here. Or sign-in if you have an account.(Bloomberg) — President Donald Trump signed two executive orders on Friday aimed at making homeownership more affordable, the latest step by the administration to ease cost-of-living concerns as the Iran conflict drives up gas prices and rattles markets.Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.One of the orders is aimed at easing access to mortgage credit and directs the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to tailor mortgage rules to make it easier for smaller banks to “facilitate more affordable lending,” according to a White House fact sheet. It also calls for bank regulators to revise guidance to focus on “prudent underwriting” and to support construction lending by community banks.The second order is designed to ease environmental rules to speed up development and infrastructure projects. It directs the Environmental Protection Agency and Army to review and revise “stormwater, wetlands, and other water-related permitting requirements” in a bid to lower costs and to “streamline Federal regulatory approvals and increase home insurability.” Get the latest headlines, breaking news and columns.By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder.The next issue of Top Stories will soon be in your inbox.We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try againInterested in more newsletters? Browse here.It also directs agencies including Commerce, Housing and Urban Development, Transportation and the Federal Housing Finance Agency to eliminate “unduly burdensome rules and reform programs that constrain residential development and housing affordability.”Together, the orders mark an effort by the Trump administration to relieve the housing squeeze with a favored GOP tactic: slashing regulations. Trump’s actions follow the Senate passage of a bipartisan bill to boost the nation’s supply of homes, the first major piece of housing legislation to clear the upper chamber in decades. But the bill’s fate is uncertain in the House, where a White House-backed provision to restrict institutional investors from buying single-family homes has received a mixed reception.Builders and mortgage lenders oppose a specific provision of the restrictions on investors. While build-to-rent homes are largely exempt from the ban – over concerns that cutting incentives to construct them would limit housing production – the measure does include a requirement that investors sell certain homes, including those built to rent and renovated to rent, within seven years.The Friday mortgage-access order aims to entice smaller banks into expanding their mortgage lending, including by updating Home Mortgage Disclosure Act requirements. The House passed a bill giving community banks regulatory relief in a housing package it passed last month, but the measure was not included in the legislation the Senate passed on Thursday.

The White House is pushing House Republicans to get on board with that bill. Post-financial crisis rules “have contributed to a significant decline in bank participation in mortgage lending,” the order states. “Community banks, generally institutions with fewer than $30 billion in assets, have been especially affected.”The Trump administration has struggled for months to tackle affordability, an issue that voters rank as a primary concern in November’s midterm elections and one that lifted Democrats in races across New York, New Jersey and Virginia last year.Now, the widening Iran war threatens to stoke inflation and already has overshadowed the White House’s economic agenda. The Trump administration previously floated several proposals to tackle the high cost of buying a home, including 50-year mortgages or “portable” mortgages. Those ideas were later dismissed by the financial industry or the president himself.As political pressure has ramped up for the White House to address cost-of-living concerns, Trump has shown reluctance to take any steps that might dent property values for existing homeowners, even if they might help first-time buyers get a foothold in the market. “People that own their homes, we’re going to keep them wealthy. We’re going to keep those prices up,” Trump said at a Cabinet meeting in January. “We’re not going to destroy the value of their homes so that somebody that didn’t work very hard can buy a home.”Trump has also repeatedly said he wants the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates under Kevin Warsh, his choice to replace Chair Jerome Powell. But what the Fed will do, and whether its policies will filter through mortgage rates, is uncertain — particularly as increased energy costs stemming from the war threaten to reignite inflation.The average for 30-year, fixed loans climbed to 6.11% from 6% last week, data from Freddie Mac showed on Thursday — the largest weekly increase since April 2025. Still, borrowing costs remain significantly lower than they were a year ago, when the 30-year average was 6.65%.In January, the president directed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-controlled companies underpinning the mortgage market, to purchase $200 billion in mortgage bonds to ease borrowing costs. —With assistance from Prashant Gopal.Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information.