President Donald Trump said Thursday that he is instructing “representatives” to buy $200 billion in mortgage bonds, arguing the move would lower interest rates and monthly housing payments.
In a Truth Social post, Trump said the directive was possible because Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have “$200 billion in cash.” He added the bond purchases would help “make the cost of owning a home more affordable.”
It was not clear who Trump meant by his “representatives,” or which entity would carry out the purchases. The White House did not immediately respond to requests for clarification.
Trump’s proposal for his representatives to buy housing bonds comes on the heels of a Wednesday statement made by the president, in which he said he would ban “large institutional investors” from buying single-family homes in the US.
Business Insider previously reported that many housing economists say such a ban would do little to improve national housing affordability. It is unclear what effect Trump’s latest proposal would have on the market.
Richard Green, director and chair of the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate, told Business Insider that Trump’s proposal doesn’t go far enough to solve the fundamental problem with American housing, which is that there simply aren’t enough homes for each person who wants to buy one.
However, he added, even the $200 billion proposal is more symbolic than substantive.
“When the Fed was involved in buying mortgages, they were buying trillions, right? So this is a gesture, I suppose,” Green said. “And of course, if you drop interest rates down, it will show up at higher house prices, which means that down payment becomes more difficult.”
“So it’s not like magic, that if you push down mortgage interest rates, that you’re going to make housing less or more affordable,” Green added. “But the big thing is that $200 billion sounds like a big number, but in context, it’s not all that much.”
Trump’s plan also came just a day after he signed an executive order that bans defense contractors from stock buybacks and dividends unless they meet certain standards.
The approach fits with a broader shift in Trump’s second-term economic playbook, as previously reported by Business Insider’s Emily Stewart. The Trump administration seems to have embraced a more interventionist style of capitalism, with the federal government taking a more active role in markets, including holding direct stakes in private companies.
Trump’s latest rhetoric also appears to target the affordability crisis as frustration over prices builds and as midterm elections near.
Housing, food, and everyday expenses remain stubbornly expensive since Trump took office for the second time, and his tariffs did not help. Zohran Mamdani, the new mayor of NYC, who had a meeting with Trump, notably won by running on universal childcare and affordable housing. According to a poll by Lake Research Partners in October 2025, support for affordability and living-wage policies in competitive swing districts is high and would give candidates who run on economic issues an advantage.
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