President Donald Trump has unveiled a major plan to “restore the American Dream,” urging the nation’s largest homebuilders to ramp up construction as the housing market struggles with an affordability crisis.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump accused the largest homebuilders of hoarding land, claiming “they’re sitting on 2 million empty lots,” which he calls a record. He compared their behavior to OPEC’s past efforts to keep oil prices high.
“It wasn’t right for them to do that but, in a different form, is being done again — This time by the Big Homebuilders of our Nation,” Trump wrote.
He called on the two mortgage financing companies, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, to incentivize homebuilders to build. He argues that since financing is now available, these builders should start building homes to address the housing shortage and make homeownership more accessible.
“They’re my friends, and they’re very important to the SUCCESS of our Country, but now, they can get Financing, and they have to start building Homes,” Trump wrote.
It’s unclear how Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will implement Trump’s plan. The White House, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac didn’t respond to requests to comment. The mortgage giants, which Trump has discussed removing from government conservatorship, guarantee over half of the country's mortgages.
Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte, who serves as the chairman of both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, acknowledged ongoing discussions in a post on X: “To help restore the American Dream, Fannie and Freddie will be meeting with each of the Big Builders, each company individually, to assess building more, growth, partnership, and more!”
But Wedbush's housing analyst Jay McCanless pushed back on Trump’s claims.
“The point that Trump is missing is there are already too many homes in the field in our opinion,” McCanless said in a statement. “There is a substantial amount of new homes for sale in the field currently. Building more homes right now is probably not the correct path, and we believe our builders have been slowing down housing starts to work through the current inventory glut."
McCanless notes that Fannie and Freddie have limited capacity to act. Any monetary incentives, such as stimulus or tax credits, would likely push home prices higher, rather than solving the underlying issues. Additionally, he explained they do not have the ability to change local zoning laws, build infrastructure or create jobs, all of which help shape where and how builders choose to develop land.
Both mortgage giants “cannot have an effect on consumer confidence which we see as big of a headwind as affordability in the current environment,” McCanless said.
Builders agree with Trump
The National Association of Home Builders chairman Buddy Hughes told Homes.com in a statement that industry leaders welcome the administration's push to spur new home construction.
“President Trump is right to focus on housing affordability, and NAHB agrees that getting more homes built is essential to restoring the American Dream. Achieving that goal will require builders of all sizes working together with the administration to overcome the complex government barriers that slow the pace of new construction,” said Hughes.
“NAHB stands ready to partner with the administration and Congress to remove regulatory obstacles, ease building material and labor shortages and expand access to affordable financing to enable builders to construct more attainable, affordable housing,” the chairman added.
Despite industry support, builders haven’t been able to offload much of their inventory. The number of unsold new homes remains high, averaging 497,000 in the three months to August — just shy of levels last seen during the late 2000s housing bust, according to Pantheon Macroeconomics.