President Donald Trump has a plan he says will help ordinary homeowners sell and buy their properties — but a publication that specializes in finances says things are not that simple.“Americans thinking about selling their homes may decide to stay put when they look at today’s interest rates, especially if they’re currently locked in at a low rate” explained an editorial published by Moneywise and syndicated by Yahoo Finance.Moneywise then quoted Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) director William Pulte, who posted on X that the agency is “actively evaluating” portable mortgages, with a portable mortgage being defined as a mortgage that “lets you transfer your mortgage and your existing rate to a new home instead of taking out a new loan when you move.” Although this plan could work in theory, Moneywise noted, there are also “critics” who are “raising concerns” about this plan that, even at its best, would require homeowners who purchase a place more expensive than their current property “to either cover the difference in cash or take out a separate loan for it.”“The New York Times reports that portable mortgages exist in other countries for shorter-term loans, but introducing them in the U.S. could shake up the economy,” Moneywise wrote. “U.S. mortgages are bundled and sold as investments called mortgage-backed securities.”They added, “CNN noted that portable mortgages could ‘disrupt the engine powering the U.S. housing market,’ because mortgage-backed securities give banks the cash they need to issue new loans and keep the ‘mortgage market flowing.’” The publication also quoted 9i Capital Group CEO Kevin Thompson, who told Newsweek earlier in March that “if the market opens up and people can carry those low rates with them, demand jumps overnight. Prices move higher. No question about it. This does nothing to solve affordability.”Similarly Realtor.com senior economist Jake Krimmel wrote that portable mortgages could help “in theory” but the so-called “lock-in effect” only accounts for roughly half of the recent drop in mobility and portable mortgages would primarily help homeowners who already have low rates.This is not the Trump administration’s first controversy involving housing. In February Washington Post financial advice columnist Michelle Singletary surmised that the conditions which caused the 2008 housing crisis — one that culminated in the Great Recession — are “creeping back” now.“Again, like the 2008 ruination, this new brewing crisis is ensnaring moderate- and low-income homeowners first,” Singletary wrote. “The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Center for Microeconomic Data reports that mortgage delinquency rates for lower-income households are surging, according to the recently released Household Debt and Credit report for the fourth quarter of 2025.”She added, “According to New York Fed data, the 90-plus-day mortgage delinquency rate for families in the lowest-income bracket jumped from 0.5 percent in 2021 to nearly 3 percent by the end of 2025.” All of this further demonstrates that “financial storm clouds are gathering over those who can least afford a rainy day. As the New York Fed points out, ‘financial distress appears to be deepening for households in lower-income areas.’”Also in February, Politico reported that Trump pressured Congress to amend a housing affordability bill to block investors from benefiting from the new policies. Even some in Trump’s own party pushed back against that proposed amendment.“I don’t think banning institutional investors is a good idea,” Rep. Troy Downing (R-Mont.), a member of the House Financial Services Committee, told Politico at the time. “I need to see exactly what language they were talking about if they’re being specific about some certain practice.”
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