Donald Trump’s Silence on US Housing Crisis

Donald Trump’s silence on the housing affordability crisis in the United States during his first speech to Congress since returning to the White House has troubled experts who worry that the issue is no longer a priority for the president.

“President Donald Trump‘s speech didn’t address housing affordability,” Realtor.com Senior Economist Joel Berner said in a statement shared with Newsweek.

“Apart from a passing comment about how the DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) efforts to reduce government waste will bring down mortgage rates, the speech made no mention of the inventory and affordability crisis facing prospective homeowners,” he added.

“Even when cutting regulations was the topic, there was no specific construction or land development callout. Building new homes had been a feature of the administration’s early agenda, so it was disappointing to find that missing.”

Why It Matters

As millions have been priced out of buying homes over the past few years, housing became an important issue for American voters during the 2024 presidential race. Trump ran on the campaign promise of lowering home prices and increasing inventory through mass deportations and deregulations of the construction sector, while he said mortgage rates would drop as a result of the growth of the U.S. economy.

However, home prices are still rising across the U.S., and housing experts fear the impact that Trump’s immigration policies and tariffs on goods imported from Canada, especially softwood lumber, could have on construction costs and inventory levels.

What To Know

Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday lasted more than 90 minutes—the longest in at least 60 years, according to NPR. However, the president never addressed the nation’s ongoing housing affordability crisis.

Trump only mentioned mortgage rates, which are still hovering around the 7 percent mark and are expected to remain between 6 percent and 7 percent in 2025 and 2026, in passing when referring to his goal of bringing down costs for Americans.

“We will defeat inflation, bring down mortgage rates, lower car payments and grocery prices, protect our seniors and put more money in the pockets of American families,” the president said.

This statement came after Trump spoke about his administration’s plan to slash fraud and waste in the federal government.

Alan Tidwell, a University of Alabama associate professor of Finance and Alabama Association of Realtors chair of Real Estate, said that acknowledging the housing and rent affordability challenge would have underscored the administration’s commitment “to addressing a central economic issue that directly impacts the daily lives of many Americans.”

“With limited supply, housing prices and rental rates continue to hover at all-time highs, making this a critical concern,” he told Newsweek. “A focus on policy solutions aimed at alleviating this financial strain could foster constructive dialogue and potentially create common ground across party lines.”

A ‘Disappointing’ Omission

For some housing and economic experts, the president’s failure to mention the housing crisis was a disappointment.

“Tonight, President Trump showed us that the only consumers he cares about are billionaires who buy crypto or contributed to his inauguration as his speech contained no concrete steps he plans to take to lower prices on everyday goods, housing, health care, or anything on a plan to deliver on his campaign commitment to cap credit card rates,” Michael Negron, former special assistant to the President for Economic Policy at the White House, said in a statement shared with Newsweek.

“What we heard instead was a lot about his personal grievances, taking over Greenland and the Panama Canal, the renaming of mountains and bodies of water, repeating already-disproven lies about social security and DOGE’s savings, increasing prices for consumers through tariffs, and giving tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans funded by cuts to Medicaid,” he added. “This country deserves better.”

Ahead of Tuesday’s joint session of Congress, Berner told Newsweek he expected Trump to mention housing in his speech.

“We hope to hear how the administration will empower builders to address the housing supply gap, which numbers in the millions according to estimates by Realtor.com, by producing affordable inventory,” Berner said.

“Builders have been moving in this direction, by shrinking the size of what’s built, attempting to fill in the market gaps, but regulatory costs at all levels of government continue to make this a challenging exercise,” he added.

“We hope there won’t be any new tariff announcements, especially on construction inputs like Canadian lumber, which would keep inflation and mortgage rates high. We’ll be listening for proposals that spur economic growth and promote technological advances.”

Growing Fears

While fees on goods imported from Mexico and Canada were postponed for a month, Berner is concerned about looming tariffs on these countries, “specifically mentioning construction inputs like copper, steel and lumber. “

The U.S. imports about a third of all softwood lumber from Canada. The material, which plays a key role in homebuilding, is expected to become more expensive with the tariffs. This could potentially discourage new construction projects and exacerbate the current supply shortage in the U.S. market.

“These costs will be passed along to builders and eventually to new homebuyers. He acknowledged that there would be ‘a little disturbance’ to the economy in the wake of these tariffs, but that we would be ‘OK with that,'” Berner said.

Daryl Fairweather, Redfin’s chief economist, told Newsweek that within the real estate industry, builders are the most worried.

“Builder confidence fell sharply in February, and is at its lowest level in five months. It will likely weaken again in March,” Fairweather said.

“That’s because builders rely on lumber and other materials that are imported from Canada, Mexico and China. Currently high interest rates are also hurting builders’ balance sheets and expectations about housing demand.”

Berner added: “Tariffs are not the only inflationary policy Trump announced; he also promised blanket tax cuts. The only truly deflationary proposal made was to bring down energy prices by promoting fossil fuel production.”

For Tidwell, it is still “too early” to fully assess the impact of the administration’s housing policies.

“It’s important to consider that, based on previous rhetoric and actions, we may see a continuation of deregulation and tax reforms aimed at increasing supply and improving affordability,” he told Newsweek. “However, uncertainties surrounding interest rates and tariffs could present significant headwinds for the housing market moving forward.”