President Trump told his Cabinet in January 2026 something that aspiring homeowners probably didn’t want to hear: he wants housing prices to rise. His exact words were blunt. “I don’t want to drive housing prices down. I want to drive housing prices up for people that own their homes.”
Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley is warning that affordable housing in the US may effectively never return to pre-2022 levels. The two positions together should concern anyone who doesn’t already own a home, which is roughly 35% of American households.
The policy math doesn’t add up for buyers
Trump’s administration has proposed a $200 billion purchase program targeting mortgage-backed securities from government-sponsored enterprises like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Morgan Stanley, in a research note dated January 18, 2026, rated the GSE directive as only “modestly helpful” for improving affordability.
The analysts projected that mortgage rates would settle around 5.6% by the end of 2026. Home price appreciation, meanwhile, is expected to hold steady at roughly 2% annually.
