Trump keeps talking about making housing more affordable.
But right now, I’m looking at what’s happening in the market and I have to ask:
Are some of his policies actually making it worse?
Mortgage rates just climbed to around 6.7%, the 10-year Treasury has been pushing higher, and the cost of building homes is still a problem.
For buyers already stretched thin, none of that helps.
You Can’t Talk About Housing Without Talking About Rates
This is the part I think gets missed.
Trump can say he wants lower mortgage rates, but presidents don’t get to pick the mortgage rate.
The bond market does a lot of the talking.
When investors get nervous about inflation, government spending and debt, Treasury yields can rise. Mortgage rates tend to move with them.
And with U.S. debt now above $40 trillion, that’s something I’m watching very closely.
Then You Have Tariffs
We already have a housing supply problem.
So making materials more expensive doesn’t exactly help us build our way out of it.
Tariffs can raise costs on products and materials used in construction. Those costs don’t just disappear. Eventually, somebody pays for them.
Usually, that’s the builder, the developer or the person buying the home.
Kenny’s Take
Trump didn’t create the housing affordability problem. Let’s be clear about that.
We’ve been dealing with high home prices, limited supply and affordability issues for years.
But you can’t say “I want affordable housing” while supporting policies that could keep borrowing and construction costs elevated.
That’s the disconnect I’m watching.
I don’t care which political party gets the credit or the blame. I care about what the numbers are telling us.
And right now, the numbers are telling us housing still has a cost problem.
The Bottom Line
There’s no single policy or president controlling the housing market.
But if we really want housing to become more affordable, we need more homes, lower borrowing costs and fewer things pushing the cost of building higher.
That’s what I’ll be watching.
