Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner said Sunday that more research is needed on President Trump’s 50-year mortgage proposal. 

“It’s very early. I think more research needs to be done on the 50-year mortgage,” Turner said on Fox News’s “Fox and Friends Weekend.”

Last month, the president backed a 50-year mortgage for home buyers to address increasing housing costs. This type of plan would spread payments out over a longer period relative to the standard 30-year home loan. 

Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte also said in November that his office is “working on” a plan to introduce a 50-year mortgage.  

Turner noted Sunday that the 50-year mortgage is among multiple ideas “on the table” to boost homeownership.

“At the end of the day, the president and the other leaders in the administration will discuss what the best possible secure path to help the American people to afford a home,” the HUD secretary added.

A 50-year mortgage would give homeowners 600 monthly payments to pay for their homes. A 30-year mortgage, the most popular way to buy a home, allows homeowners to pay off their balance via 360 monthly payments. 

The proposal comes as housing costs increase and a rising number of younger Americans see owning a home as unrealistic. 

In November, the cost of shelter increased 3 percent relative to 12 months prior, ahead of the overall inflation rate of 2.7 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The U.S. Census Bureau also reported in September that median monthly owner costs for homeowners with a mortgage increased 3.8 percent from 2023 to 2024, after rising 3 percent from 2022 to 2023. 

But a 50-year mortgage would also likely come with higher interest rates, given their elevated risk relative to a 30-year home loan. 

A spokesperson for the Mortgage Bankers Association told The Hill last month that “our concern is that any affordability benefit derived from expanding the mortgage term to 50 years would be offset by increased borrower risk and slower borrower equity growth resulting from the extended amortization period, especially given the expected slowing of home price growth.”