Mortgage insurance changes and existing borrower rights
The Federal Housing Finance Agency, or FHFA, must develop a pilot that uses automated valuation models to assess homes at current market values. Qualifying borrowers who reach the required equity thresholds would have their mortgage insurance premiums canceled proactively.
Most conventional mortgages require private mortgage insurance when buyers put down less than 20%. Annual premiums typically run from about 0.3% to more than 1% of the loan amount. Depending on a borrower's credit score and down payment, that can mean monthly charges of $100 to several hundred dollars. The pilot aims to eliminate that recurring expense once eligible homeowners have accumulated enough equity.
The U.S. Mortgage Insurers trade group, known as USMI, emphasized in an October 22 statement that borrowers already have cancellation rights under federal law. The Homeowners Protection Act requires automatic termination at a 78% loan-to-value ratio, equivalent to 22% paid-in equity. Borrowers can also request cancellation at 80% based on appreciation in their home's value, subject to certain conditions.
USMI said private mortgage insurance premium rates have dropped 25% since 2017. More than 800,000 buyers used the coverage in 2025, including 65% who were first-time buyers, and the group put the average borrower's cash savings at closing at about $48,000.
The group also noted that the Working Families Tax Cuts signed by Trump restored a permanent deduction for mortgage insurance premiums for eligible homeowners beginning with tax year 2026.
Title waivers draw support and warnings
The order instructs FHFA to turn its title insurance waiver pilot into a permanent program available nationwide, with the aim of reducing refinancing expenses. According to HousingWire, the pilot began in 2024 and previously covered only certain refinance loans in selected geographic areas, with loan-to-value ratios below 80%.
The National Association of Realtors and the Mortgage Bankers Association welcomed the order's focus on affordability, Realtor.com reported. The American Land Title Association cautioned against weakening protections while trying to lower costs.
Association CEO Chris Morton said cost-cutting efforts "must also preserve the essential consumer safeguards," adding: "Fraud is unaffordable, and the threats facing homeowners are growing."
FHFA Director Bill Pulte offered a more sweeping endorsement. According to Realtor.com's October 22 report, he called the measure "the greatest Housing Executive Order in History" and said it could save "thousands" of dollars for millions of Americans.
Factory-built homes and federal loan rates
A new Task Force on Manufactured Housing Innovation will bring together the HUD secretary and FHFA director as co-chairs. Its assignment is to recommend ways to expand eligibility and production for manufactured homes in federal programs, promote modern factory-built construction and lower production costs without compromising safety standards.
Recent Census data put the average price of a new manufactured home at around $135,000, a fraction of the cost of a site-built home. The order also directs the Agriculture and Veterans Affairs secretaries to lower interest rates on certain direct single-family loans.
The manufactured housing provisions follow the July 2026 ROAD to Housing Act, which removed the longstanding requirement that HUD-code manufactured homes have a permanent chassis. HUD's October 7 Next Generation Manufactured Housing Action Plan sets out changes to construction standards, energy-efficiency rules, foundations and installation to accommodate chassis-free designs.
Realtor.com reported that Trump declined to sign the 21st Century Road to Housing Act after Congress passed it following months of sometimes-contentious negotiations. The legislation nevertheless became law.
Realtor.com senior economist Hannah Jones described a shortage of suitable homes as a constraint on buyers Thursday. "Demand isn't just outpacing supply," she said. "It is artificially suppressed because suitable, affordable homes aren't available."
Affordability remains an election issue
Housing costs are part of the broader affordability debate in the midterm elections. Freddie Mac reported an average 30-year fixed mortgage rate of 7.32% on Thursday, compared with 3.15% in 2021. The average U.S. home sale price stood at $502,700, up from roughly $475,000 in 2021.
The administration's April 2026 Economic Report of the President estimated that single-family housing supply was roughly 10 million units below what pre-2008 construction rates would have produced. It blamed Biden-era policies for increasing demand while restricting supply, citing illegal immigration, institutional purchases, green building mandates, equity-plan requirements and local regulatory costs.
Separately, the National Association of Home Builders estimated that federal, state and local regulations accounted for $131,734, or 26.4%, of the average new single-family home's price in early 2026. Its analysis attributed more than $40,000 to building-code changes alone.
Earlier limits on investors and construction rules
Thursday's order follows actions addressing both housing demand and construction. In January 2026, Trump directed agencies to restrict purchases of existing single-family homes by large institutional investors, while allowing exceptions for build-to-rent housing. He also asked Congress to put the policy into law.
Treasury has begun implementing those restrictions through proposed rules under the ROAD to Housing Act. The rules would generally prohibit investors controlling at least 350 homes from making new acquisitions beginning in 2027.
The largest institutional buyers have represented about 1% of all single-family purchases over the past decade and a shrinking share of investor activity, according to data from sources including Realtor.com. Investors overall, most of them small and medium-sized operators, have accounted for 10% to 30% of transactions in recent periods, depending on the measure used.
A separate March 2026 order called for reviews of federal construction requirements, including stormwater and wetlands permitting, energy mandates and other regulations that the administration said raised building costs.
