The Trump housing order signed on October 22 won’t lower the interest rate on a typical new mortgage. It goes after costs around the loan instead: mortgage insurance, title insurance on refinances, and rates on two small federal programs. Most of it depends on a regulator choosing to act, and the insurance piece skips loans people already have.
The order, titled “Decreasing Housing Costs for the American People,” came 12 days before the November 3 midterms. The 30-year fixed rate averaged 7.32% this week, according to Freddie Mac’s weekly survey. That’s down from 7.40% a week earlier but well above 6.19% a year ago. Nothing in the order touches that number.
The mortgage insurance pilot skips loans you already have
Section 2 is the headline item. It tells FHFA Director Bill Pulte to have Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac set up a pilot that re-values homes with automated models. If a borrower appears to have enough equity at today’s value, the companies would cancel mortgage insurance without being asked.
Two details narrow it sharply. The pilot applies “only to mortgages made after the establishment of the pilot program,” the order says. It also covers conventional loans that Fannie and Freddie own or guarantee, not FHA loans. Politico and The Hill described the target as “government-backed” loans, but the order itself never mentions FHA.
The new idea is using current value. Under the Homeowners Protection Act, you can ask to drop private mortgage insurance once your balance is scheduled to hit 80% of the home’s original value. Servicers must end it automatically at 78%, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau explains. “Original value” generally means the purchase price or appraisal at closing, so rising prices don’t count.
The money is real for those who qualify. Freddie Mac’s homebuyer site puts private mortgage insurance at roughly $30 to $70 a month for every $100,000 borrowed. On a $300,000 loan, that’s about $90 to $210 a month, or $1,080 to $2,520 a year.
But the pilot has no deadline. The order also makes it conditional on the director deciding it serves Fannie, Freddie and “the American public.”
Title waivers would help some refinances, not purchases
Section 4 turns an existing experiment into a nationwide program. Since 2024, Fannie Mae has let some lenders skip lender’s title insurance on certain low-risk refinances. FHFA limited that title acceptance pilot to refinances under 80% loan-to-value in select areas. It estimated savings of $500 to $1,500 per refinance.
The order asks FHFA to consider going further, including loans above 80% loan-to-value and more title-review vendors. It also floats fewer appraisals and lower Fannie and Freddie fees on some refinances. Any savings must be passed to borrowers.
The catch is that 7.32% rate. A title waiver only matters if you refinance, and few people refinance into a higher rate. Refinances make up “only around 7% of title premiums,” Keefe, Bruyette & Woods analysts wrote, as HousingWire reported. They expect limited impact unless the program reaches home purchases, which this order doesn’t do.
The title industry is wary anyway. “Fraud is unaffordable, and the threats facing homeowners are growing,” said Chris Morton, CEO of the American Land Title Association. His statement was quoted by Realtor.com.
The VA and USDA rate cuts reach a few thousand buyers a year
Section 5 tells the Agriculture and VA secretaries to cut rates on loans “made directly by their respective departments.” That wording matters. Most USDA-backed mortgages, and the VA loans most veterans know, come from private lenders with a federal guarantee, and those aren’t covered.
The order’s legal citations point to two small programs. USDA’s Section 502 direct loans serve low- and very-low-income rural buyers at 5.750% as of October 1. Payment assistance can bring that as low as 1%. USDA made 2,115 of these loans in fiscal 2026, worth $571 million, against 32,543 guaranteed Section 502 loans in 2024.
VA’s only direct home loan is the Native American Direct Loan, for veterans buying on federal trust land. Its rate already starts at 2.47%, and VA made 40 of these loans in fiscal 2024. Both cuts also depend on “available appropriations” from Congress.
Who the order helps, by borrower type
We read the order section by section and matched each provision to the borrowers it names.
| If you are… | What the order does for you |
|---|---|
| Buying now with a conventional loan at today’s rates | No change to your rate |
| Paying PMI on an existing Fannie or Freddie loan | Not covered by the pilot, which applies only to new loans |
| Getting a Fannie or Freddie loan with under 20% down after the pilot starts | PMI could be canceled sooner if your home’s value rises |
| Paying FHA mortgage insurance | Not mentioned in the order |
| Refinancing a Fannie or Freddie loan | Possible title insurance savings, if the program expands to you |
| Using a VA or USDA guaranteed loan from a private lender | Not covered |
| A low-income rural buyer with a USDA direct loan | Lower rate ordered; current rate 5.750% |
| A Native American veteran with a VA direct loan | Lower rate ordered; current rate from 2.47% |
| Shopping for a manufactured home | A task force reports in 180 days |
The pattern is clear. The biggest dollar item, mortgage insurance, goes to future borrowers whose homes gain value. The broadest program, title waivers, pays off mainly when rates fall enough for refinancing to return.
Lenders and Realtors welcomed it, with rates still above 7%
Industry groups praised the order. Mortgage Bankers Association CEO Bob Broeksmit said lenders “welcome these latest initiatives to reduce the costs of refinancing,” Realtor.com reported. Shannon McGahn of the National Association of Realtors said it “takes steps toward making homeownership more sustainable.”
Pulte called it “the greatest Housing Executive Order in History” on social media. Realtor.com noted that two of its ideas mirror the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act. That law took effect this year even though Trump refused to sign it.
The rate is still the bigger problem. Rates climbed above 7% amid the Iran war as bond yields and oil prices rose, The Hill reported. That’s the conflict behind the renewed tanker attacks in the Strait of Hormuz. “Housing affordability is more affected by changes in mortgage rates,” said NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun.
Housing sits alongside other squeezes on household budgets, including power bills that are cutting into grocery money. Affordability has been central to the 2026 midterm campaign.
The order’s only hard deadline falls after Election Day. The manufactured housing task force, co-chaired by HUD and FHFA, owes the president recommendations within 180 days, by about April 20, 2027.