President Donald Trump signed one on Thursday Implementing regulation The goal was to reduce housing costs to show that his administration is addressing voters’ affordability concerns in the final stretch of the midterm elections.
The order would direct the Federal Housing Finance Agency to create a pilot program that would proactively remove mortgage insurance on certain loans, limited to future mortgages. The move would potentially save some borrowers money if their property’s value increased sufficiently. The FHFA regulates Fannie and Freddie, the government-controlled companies that finance more than half of the U.S. residential mortgage market.
The new guidance comes amid flashing warning signs for the real estate market: Building permits, housing starts and pending sales for September all came in significantly lower than economists expected on Tuesday, as high prices and mortgage rates above 7% cause transactions to come to a near standstill.
The order also creates a new task force to address the cost of manufactured housing. The group is co-chaired by the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and the FHFA Director.
The order directs the departments of Agriculture and Veterans Affairs that offer direct lending programs to reduce interest rates on single-family mortgages they take out.
The policy would also expand a title insurance pilot project into a permanent program that would allow GSEs to accept an automated title check in place of a lender’s title insurance policy for certain refinance transactions. While few people are refinancing in the current interest rate environment – the rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage hit 7.32% this week – the move could be a boon for lenders as rates fall.
“The American dream of homeownership is an important pillar of our great country. It is the policy of my administration to reduce regulatory barriers to mortgage lending and costs that impede homeownership,” the order reads.
FHFA Director Bill Pulte has hinted in recent days that more changes may be in the pipeline.
“We are exploring the use of just one or two credit reports to provide American consumers with even more savings than we already have,” he said in one Social media post Saturday. Bloomberg previously reported the possible move to a so-called “bi-merge” report.
The agency is also looking at pricing adjustments at the loan level, he said in a separate document Social media post Saturday, “and I expect we will make a decision before the end of the year on whether there will be any changes to the LLPAs. Stay tuned!”
Photo: Houses under construction. Photographer: Mark Felix/Bloomberg
Copyright 2026 Bloomberg.
The most important insurance news in your inbox every business day.
Get the insurance industry’s trusted newsletter
