(NewsNation) — President Donald Trump brushed off concerns about a 50-year mortgage in an interview that aired Monday, saying the idea is “not even a big deal.”
“All it means is you pay less per month, you pay it over a longer period of time,” Trump told Fox News’s Laura Ingraham. “It’s not like a big factor — it might help a little bit.”
Trump’s comments come two days after he touted a 50-year mortgage in a Truth Social post. Bill Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, later confirmed the administration was working on it, calling the idea “a complete game changer.”
Pulte framed the 50-year mortgage as a way to help younger Americans buy homes, but the proposal has drawn criticism from Trump allies and housing experts alike.
“It will ultimately reward the banks, mortgage lenders and home builders, while people pay far more in interest over time and die before they ever pay off their home,” Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia wrote on X. “In debt forever, in debt for life!”
While details remain sparse, a 50-year mortgage would likely lower monthly payments for borrowers — potentially by a couple of hundred dollars on a typical home, though that’s not guaranteed.
The trade-off is that homeowners would end up paying significantly more in interest, possibly hundreds of thousands of dollars over the life of the loan, and build equity much more slowly than under today’s 30-year standard.
There could also be ramifications for the broader housing market, analysts warn. If a 50-year mortgage boosts demand without an increase in supply, home prices could rise, erasing any potential savings.
“The fundamental problem with the housing market is that there aren’t enough homes for everybody who would like to buy them,” said Redfin chief economist Daryl Fairweather. “I don’t see this 50-year mortgage product necessarily spurring new construction.”
White House Economic Director Kevin Hassett defended the idea Monday, pushing back on the argument that it would effectively be the same as renting.
“Don’t forget that you get the equity if the price goes up,” Hassett told reporters. “On average, prices have tended to increase, and so I don’t think that the absence of equity is a serious concern.”
He pointed out that the typical age for first-time homebuyers has surged in recent years and said it’s a trend the administration is “very serious” about addressing.
Last week, the National Association of Realtors reported that the median age of first-time homebuyers had risen to 40, a record high, up from 33 in 2021. The same report found that first-time buyers now make up a smaller share of the market than ever, just 21%.
Those trends have coincided with rising affordability challenges that have made it harder for younger buyers to compete with equity-rich baby boomers.
Pulte said the administration is “laser focused” on helping young people realize the American dream and described the 50-year mortgage as a “potential weapon” in a “WIDE arsenal of solutions” in an X post on Sunday.
Record-high home prices and elevated mortgage rates have kept many potential buyers on the sidelines in recent years, though housing inventory has started to improve in major markets across the country.
The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate is currently 6.22% — near 2025 lows but still more than double the sub-3% rates seen in 2021. Two years ago, in October 2023, the 30-year fixed rate went as high as 7.8%.
In his interview with Ingraham, Trump blamed former President Joe Biden and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell for ongoing housing affordability challenges.