The road to high housing costs is paved with red tape. Overregulation stifles new housing supply and makes it more expensive to obtain a mortgage. Too many American families pay the price for this.
That is why President Donald Trump signed two executive orders — one to make single-family housing construction more affordable and another to improve the accessibility and affordability of mortgages. These actions build on his order earlier this year to ban large institutional investors from buying single-family homes. This administration is taking an aggressive approach to bring down the cost of housing and restore the American Dream of Homeownership.
Burdensome regulations are the source of much of the strain on housing markets. Government rules account for nearly 40 percent of the cost for multifamily homes and up to 25 percent of the cost for single-family homes. That is why one of my first actions as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) was to rescind the Obama-Biden era “War on the Suburbs,” or the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule. This federal regulation, and others like it, rob communities of decision-making power, layer piles of paperwork on local officials, and increase home prices. And they accomplish all these things without building a single home.
Green energy requirements can increase construction costs by at least $30,000, which is ultimately passed on to homebuyers. In 2021, regulations added almost $94,000 to the cost of an average new single-family home. President Trump’s instructions have been clear — these unnecessary mandates must end.
This onerous bureaucracy means fewer single-family homes are built, resulting in higher housing costs for everyone. Government policies make it more difficult for builders to build and more expensive for homebuyers to buy. It means more Americans are competing for fewer homes. And it’s exactly the kind of insanity that President Trump’s executive order is fighting against.
With that said, federal regulations are only part of the problem. President Trump’s order also encourages positive changes at the state and local level. HUD will offer incentives to state and local governments to streamline local permitting, take down so-called “green” requirements, promote innovative home building techniques, reduce wait time for approvals, and broadly expand housing supply.
Instead of overregulation, the President is promising innovation and enterprise as the keys to affordability. This executive order aligns Opportunity Zones with single-family home development and New Markets Tax Credit programs. Opportunity Zones were made permanent in the One Big Beautiful Bill, a transformative tax bill and the largest tax cut for working families in modern history. To date, Opportunity Zones have lifted more than a million Americans out of poverty, channeled over $100 billion into distressed communities, and led to the construction of more than 400,000 new homes.
President Trump’s latest action builds on recent good news for American homebuyers.
Under the President’s watch, lower mortgage rates have helped improve buying power by about $30,000 for a median-income household over the past year. The Housing Affordability Index of the National Association of Realtors is now at its highest level since March 2022.
To complement the president’s order on reducing barriers to single-family home construction, he also issued an order to cut regulations that increase mortgage costs, limit access for borrowers, and drive some smaller banks out of the market. Community banks have been unable to absorb the compliance costs associated with originating, servicing, and holding a mortgage. Easing certain regulations in this space will enable your hometown lender to more readily issue and service a mortgage. This is another critical aspect of improving Americans’ ability to buy a home.
The president knows that homeownership is the core of the American Dream. Owning a home is an essential step to independence and financial freedom. Few things in this life match the joy of having a home full of happy memories and being able to leave it as a legacy to your children and grandchildren. President Trump knows this to be true, and his bold actions are bringing the American Dream of homeownership back into reach.
Scott Turner is the Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development
