Housing director confirms administration ‘working on’ 50-year mortgage after Trump hint
Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Bill Pulte on Saturday said the Trump administration is “working on” a plan to introduce 50-year mortgage terms for home buyers.
“Thanks to President Trump, we are indeed working on The 50 year Mortgage – a complete game changer,” Pulte wrote in a statement on the social platform X.
It followed a Truth Social post by President Trump earlier in the day where he shared a graphic juxtaposing an image of him next to one of former President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The administration that oversaw the New Deal established the 30-year mortgage standard to help citizens recover from the Great Depression.
Similarly, Trump campaigned on creating affordability for the younger generation last year, but the president has faced headwinds on the subject more recently as prices rise.
Google searches for “help with mortgage” recently climbed to their highest level since 2009, while adjustable-rate mortgages, or ARMs, have also been trending. ARMs made up about 10 percent of all mortgage applications in September — the highest share in nearly two years and well above the post-2008 average of 6 percent, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA).
Still, home prices and interest rates remain relatively high, with the median household spending approximately 38.4 percent of their monthly income on mortgage payments, Redfin determined.
In May, Trump said he was considering bringing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac public. The two enterprises key to the mortgage market were originally created by Congress but remained private companies funded by the Treasury Department until the housing market crash in 2008.
“I am giving very serious consideration to bringing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac public,” Trump wrote in post on Truth Social, adding that he would make a decision in the “near future.”
“Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are doing very well, throwing off a lot of CASH, and the time would seem to be right. Stay tuned,” he added.
Pulte, whose agency is responsible for keeping tabs on Fannie and Freddie, confirmed last month that Trump is “opportunistically evaluating” whether to release the two enterprises to the market as early as the end of 2025.
The FHFA director might be best known for his campaigns against Trump’s perceived enemies, including New York Attorney General Letitia James (D), who is facing mortgage fraud charges based on documents surfaced by the agency.
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