Copyright Newsweek
U.S. President Donald Trump's proposal to introduce 50-year mortgage terms for homebuyers has sparked a backlash from online commentators. Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Bill Pulte said on Saturday that the Trump administration is working on a plan to introduce the measure. Writing on X, people criticized the idea, which they said could increase debt levels. Newsweek reached out to the FHFA by email outside of normal business hours for comment. Why It Matters Home ownership has emerged as a key issues in the U.S., with many people struggling to get on the housing ladder. The average age of first-time homebuyers had reached an all-time high of 40, according to a recent report by the National Association of Realtors and the U.S. housing market has slowed this year due to sky-high home prices, elevated borrowing costs and other factors. What To Know Pulte's X post came after Trump posted an image on his social media platform Truth Social in which he placed an image of himself next to one of former President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who established the 30-year mortgage standard. He wrote "30-year mortgage” above Roosevelt’s image and “50-year mortgage” above his. In a separate post, Pulte wrote: “Trump proposes 50-year mortgage to help affordability.” A longer fixed-rate mortgage would lower monthly payments, but would create a higher total cost because of interest. Writing on X, some figures raised issues with the proposal. Maggie Anders, who works for the conservative libertarian think tank the Foundation for Economic Education said: "Young Americans don't want to be debt slaves for the rest of their lives. We want cheaper houses, which can only be accomplished by increasing the supply through deregulation." Graham Stephan, a real estate investor and commentator with over 199,000 followers wrote: "A 50-Year mortgage would allow you to buy approximately 10 percent more house (or save about 10 percent) at the expense of nearly DOUBLING your payment schedule. There's no way that ends well. "A 50-year mortgage isn't worth it and won't add much benefit since your mortgage interest is front-loaded. Homeowners will have very little, if any, equity by the time they sell (homeowners keep their home an average of 11.8 years). It sounds good on paper, but financially, it makes very little sense." Lukas Schubert, a Montana state Republican wrote: "The best way to help young homebuyers is to deport all the 30 million illegals from this country, that will free up a lot of housing!" Matt Walsh, a conservative commentator, wrote: "This just means your house will be owned by the bank until you die, and after. We don’t need 50-year mortgages. Get the illegal immigrants out of our country. Give America back to Americans." However, others said it was a good idea. John Pompliano, an investor with over 72,000 followers wrote: "The 30-year mortgage is one of the best financial products available to Americans. 50 years is even better." Crypto Wendy, a cryptocurrency analyst with over 458,000 followers wrote: "I don’t think a 50-year mortgage is bad. It gives everyone more flexibility financially You can pay a mortgage off early. Not sure how else to lower home costs in 2025." What People Are Saying Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte wrote on X Saturday: "Thanks to President Trump, we are indeed working on The 50-year Mortgage—a complete game changer." HousingWire lead analyst Logan Mohtashami wrote: “I understand that we have housing affordability challenges in America, but subsidizing more demand from 30- to 50-year mortgages is not the policy we want to take now. Housing has to balance itself out through slowing home-price growth and wages increasing—as it has for many decades. To add another subsidization to the market just prevents that healing process from occurring, which also prevents less equity build out as well. So I am not a fan of any increasing in the amortization, the 30-year fixed is perfectly fine as is." What Happens Next Pulte said the administration was "working on" the plan, but further details about what that will entail and when it will be implemented remain to be seen.
