Trump wants to make owning a home cheaper. Here's what his order actually does.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Oct. 22 aimed at lowering the cost of owning a single-family home, directing federal agencies to cut mortgage and refinancing expenses and expand factory-built housing, Real Estate News reported. The White House said the order "is lowering the costs of single-family homeownership & mortgages, & removing unnecessary red tape to make homeownership more affordable for all Americans."

The order directs Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte to create a pilot program under which Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will periodically review the loans they back, using automated valuation models and other data to assess each property's current market value, according to Profilo Politics. Borrowers who are found to meet equity and payment-history requirements would have their mortgage insurance premiums cancelled proactively — without having to apply — eliminating what the White House called "a large monthly expense for qualifying Americans."

To cut refinancing costs, the order makes permanent the FHFA's title insurance waiver pilot, which lets more borrowers use lower-cost alternatives to title insurance when they refinance. The secretaries of Agriculture and Veterans Affairs are also directed to lower interest rates on the single-family home loans issued through their departments, which serve rural borrowers and veterans.

The order creates a Task Force on Manufactured Housing Innovation, to be co-chaired by Pulte and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner, and instructs the Treasury Department on guidelines for corporate homebuyers, Real Estate News reported. The Commerce Department has also reduced tariffs on some homebuilding material imports, according to the same report.

The backdrop is grim for American buyers. Freddie Mac reported the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate at 7.32 per cent on Thursday, compared with 3.15 per cent in 2021, and pending home sales have hit a record low, TradingView's Benzinga roundup said. A home builders' association analysis put regulatory costs at $131,734 — 26.4 per cent of the average new single-family home price, according to boredtrashpanda.com's summary.

The order was applauded by the National Association of Realtors, whose chief advocacy officer Shannon McGahn said in a statement that it "helps address the costs associated with homeownership and takes steps toward making homeownership more sustainable for American families." Pulte said in an X post that the order would reduce mortgage insurance premiums, refinancing costs and borrowing rates for eligible homeowners, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced separate housing regulations on Thursday, saying the administration was working to "restore the path to affordable homeownership for millions of young and working families," TradingView reported.

The timing is not accidental: Trump signed the order less than two weeks before the Nov. 3 midterm elections, with housing affordability emerging as an election issue, Business News Today noted.

The move lands in the middle of Canada's own affordability crunch — five days before the Bank of Canada decides whether to raise its policy rate. While Washington is trying to lower borrowing costs by administrative order, Ottawa's lever is the rate itself; if the Bank hikes on Oct. 28, the cost gap between a Canadian variable mortgage and a U.S. fixed mortgage could widen further.