Federal Housing Director Bill Pulte on Friday signaled that the Trump administration is moving past his widely criticized idea for 50-year mortgages in its broader effort to address housing affordability.
“I think we have other priorities,” Pulte told reporters, when asked if 50-year mortgages are still on the table.
President Donald Trump rolled out other policy proposals earlier this week aimed at addressing the cost of home-buying, and said he’d share more affordability measures during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, later this month. The administration is drafting an executive order targeted at affordability issues that are high on voters’ minds heading into a midterm election year.
Pulte’s comment indicates that the proposal for 50-year mortgages, which was panned by officials in the White House as well as industry experts, will not be among the actions in Trump’s order. POLITICO reported that Pulte had originally brought that proposal to the president.
Pulte on Friday said the president is reviewing a list of 30 to 50 home-cost solutions from himself and other top administration officials — including Vice President JD Vance, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett.
Pulte also said Fannie and Freddie, the government-sponsored mortgage entities which his agency oversees, have started carrying out Trump’s direction Thursday to purchase $200 billion in mortgage bonds in an effort to lower home loan rates, starting with a $3 billion buy.
Mortgage bonds are comprised of home loans that government-controlled Fannie and Freddie, as well as private financial institutions, purchase and package into securities that are bought and sold by investors.
But Fannie and Freddie can buy back those bonds, called mortgage-backed securities, from the public market as well. The government-controlled entities were bailed out by the Treasury Department and placed under government conservatorship after they faced massive losses from defaulting sub-prime mortgages as a result of the 2008 financial crisis.
Pulte pushed back against concerns that Fannie and Freddie might not be properly insulated against the risks posed by increasing their portfolio of mortgage-backed securities.
“The mortgages that we're underwriting are not like they were in 2008, and so we feel very confident in our liquidity position,” Pulte said. “I think that Fannie and Freddie have way more liquidity than we know what to do with.”
Pulte also addressed criticism that his referrals of mortgage fraud against New York Attorney General Letitia James, Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook and Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) were politically motivated — claiming his agency has made similar referrals against Republicans as well.
“We've also referred Republicans. Now that doesn't get leaked by the liberal press,” Pulte said. When reporters asked which Republicans Pulte had identified as potentially committing mortgage fraud, he said, “I'm not going to comment on any specific investigation.”
Pulte has spoken publicly and posted on social media regarding the referrals against James, Cook and Schiff.
Victoria Guida contributed to this report.
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