Trump signs executive order aimed at cutting US housing costs
President Trump has signed an executive order directing federal housing agencies to cut single-family homeownership costs through proactive mortgage-insurance cancellation, permanent refinance title-insurance waivers, and a new manufactured-housing task force.
President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order, “Decreasing Housing Costs for the American People”, aimed at reducing the cost of single-family homeownership and mortgages, the White House said (https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2026/10/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-decreases-housing-costs-for-americans/).
The order directs the Federal Housing Finance Agency to create a pilot programme that would proactively cancel borrowers’ mortgage insurance premiums once they have satisfied equity requirements based on the property’s current market value — eliminating what the White House called “a large monthly expense” for qualifying Americans. Reuters confirmed the signing and the pilot’s terms (https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-signs-executive-order-aimed-reducing-housing-costs-2026-10-22/).
The order also makes permanent the FHFA’s pilot waiving lender title insurance on refinancings, expanding cost-friendly alternatives to title insurance to cut closing costs. The pilot had been limited to refinances with loan-to-value ratios below 80 per cent in select states, and was estimated to save consumers between $500 and $1,500 per transaction (https://rocketnews.com/2026/10/trumps-executive-order-targets-mortgage-insurance-refinance-costs-what-it-means-for-borrowers/).
The order creates a Task Force on Manufactured Housing Innovation, co-chaired by the housing secretary and the FHFA director, to promote factory-built housing eligible for federal housing programmes, and directs the agriculture and veterans affairs secretaries to reduce interest rates on single-family home loans issued by their departments.
The Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances, published in early October, found monthly mortgage payments on median-priced homes consumed about 33 per cent of median family income in 2025, up from 26 per cent in 2022. Industry representatives expressed support, though analysts cautioned the full consumer impact remains unclear pending implementation details.
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