Trump Promises to Make Housing Affordable While Maintaining Standards as He Hails ‘Golden Age of America’ in State of the Union Address.
The president Donald Trump he reiterated his goal of making the housing market more affordable without lowering home prices during the State of the Union address, his annual address to Congress.
Trump’s speech on Tuesday night was focused on economic issues as the president will convince voters that he has reduced the rising costs that he campaigned to fix.
Low interest rates will help reduce the price of “Biden-built” houses, Trump said, while defending high home prices for those who “feel rich for the first time in their lives”.
“We want to keep those standards high, we’re going to do both,” Trump said.
Trump said mortgage rates “are going down fast and payments are down about $5,000 since I took office”. The average mortgage rate was 7.04% in January 2025, when Trump took office, compared to 6.01% now, according to Freddie Mac.
What did Trump say about the ban on institutional investors?
Trump’s solution to the housing crisis includes a variety of proposals to make it more affordable. He signed an executive order to discourage institutional investors from buying single-family homes. He also forced lower interest rates and ordered Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to buy an additional $200 billion in mortgage bonds to lower mortgage rates.
In the speech, Trump called on Congress to pass legislation to make the ban permanent. That ban on investors has not yet appeared in the joint housing package, the Housing for the 21st Century Act, which is now in the Senate.
Trump added that the woman in the public gallery had lost 20 bids on houses to investors, who had turned those houses into rentals and were “stealing her American dream”.
“Now I’m asking Congress to make that ban permanent because homes are for people, really. That’s what we want, not corporate homes,” he said.
A majority of Americans still believe home ownership is “essential to the American dream,” according to a survey conducted by the National Association of Realtors®. But, fewer than 1 in 5 voters think now is a good time to buy a new home.
Trump also pointed out that there is momentum in the new construction industry. “We have created 75,000 new jobs in a very short period of time, and they are getting bigger and bigger. Nobody can believe what they are seeing,” he said.
Trump presented an economic message focused on spending
The speech comes days after the US Supreme Court struck down most of the sweeping tariffs that Trump has made the centerpiece of his foreign and economic policy. Those have had a huge impact on a variety of building materials.
Trump said he was not deterred by “a very bad decision.” He said the rates “will remain in place under other fully approved legal conditions.” These fees, Trump said he hopes will replace the income tax.
Also, Trump announced a “ratepayer protection pledge” that would require data center developers to hand over their power. Trump also said it would mean data center developers could build power plants on their sites. Trump said this would lower domestic energy costs.
Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger will introduce Democratic opposition to the speech. Senate Democrats have introduced several housing bills aimed at reducing tax breaks and increasing housing construction.
