Trump Signs Housing-Cost Executive Order — What It Means for Houston

President Donald Trump on Thursday, October 22, signed an executive order aimed at reducing the costs of single-family home ownership and mortgages, the White House said, according to Reuters. The order directs the Federal Housing Finance Agency to launch a pilot program to proactively cancel borrowers' mortgage insurance premiums once they meet equity requirements based on current market values, and to make permanent an FHFA pilot program waiving title insurance requirements for mortgage refinancings.

The order also establishes a task force on manufactured housing innovation to expand factory-built homes eligible for federal housing programs, and directs the agriculture and veterans affairs secretaries to reduce interest rates on single-family home loans issued by their departments, Reuters reported. Real Estate News reported the manufactured-housing task force will be co-chaired by FHFA Director Bill Pulte and HUD Secretary Scott Turner. For Houston, the measures would apply the same way they apply nationally — to qualifying borrowers with government-backed loans — rather than through a Houston-specific program.

The signing comes as borrowing costs stay high nationally. The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate reached 7.40 percent last week, the highest in about three years, before falling to 7.32 percent this week, according to Freddie Mac figures cited by Reuters. Contracts to buy previously owned homes plunged to a record low in September, single-family housing starts fell 4.6 percent that month, and permits for future construction dropped 4 percent to their lowest level in three and a half years, Reuters reported.

The National Association of Realtors applauded the order, with executive vice president and chief advocacy officer Shannon McGahn saying in a statement reported by Real Estate News that it "helps address the costs associated with homeownership and takes steps toward making homeownership more sustainable for American families." Not everyone expects quick relief: Jason Madiedo, CEO of SimplyPMG, warned in a statement to Real Estate News that the order is mostly "a long play" whose benefits consumers would reap "years from now," and argued the title-insurance change targets a smaller part of refinancing costs. The order was signed less than two weeks before the November 3 midterm elections, where housing affordability has been a central issue.