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The Trump administration is considering a 50-year mortgage, and not just the traditional 30-year term, a potential “game changer” for the housing market, Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte announced. “Thanks to President Trump, we are indeed working on The 50-year mortgage - a complete game changer,” Pulte wrote in a social media post Saturday. He later posted that the proposal aims to help with “affordability.” Hours earlier, President Donald Trump posted a graphic on Truth Social showing side-by-side images of himself and Franklin D. Roosevelt under a banner that read: “Great American Presidents.” Above the photo of Roosevelt, the graphic says “30-year mortgage,” and above Trump says “50-year mortgage.” Under Roosevelt, the Fair Housing Administration was established as part of the New Deal to provide stability to the housing market during the Great Depression. Years later, in 1949, the FHA started offering up to 30-year mortgages for newly constructed homes and it has since become the standard. The 50-year mortgage could be a boon to families looking to buy with soaring housing costs. It would lower their monthly payments significantly - but would make payments for two decades longer than the standard 30-year term. “We are laser focused on ensuring the American Dream for YOUNG PEOPLE and that can only happen on the economic level of homebuying. A 50-year mortgage is simply a potential weapon in a WIDE arsenal of solutions that we are developing right now,” Pulte wrote in a post Sunday morning. Nearly all — 93 percent of Americans — last month said they believe housing costs are too high, according to Realtor.com. People aren’t moving as frequently. The median time that a homeowner in 2025 stayed in their home before selling was 11 years — a record high, the National Association of Realtors found. Similarly, only 28 percent of homes changed hands in the first nine months of 2025, marking the lowest turnover rate in at least 30 years, Redfin found last month. First-time homeowners are also getting older. The typical age of first-time buyers rose to 40 years old, a record high, according to the National Association of Realtors. “The historically low share of first-time buyers underscores the real-world consequences of a housing market starved for affordable inventory," Jessica Lautz, NAR deputy chief economist and vice president of research, said in a statement. The average rate on a 30-year U.S. mortgage is 6.22 percent, according to Freddie Mac. With that interest rate on a $200,000 home with a 20 percent down payment, Fannie Mae calculated that homeowners would pay $1,143 monthly on a 50-year mortgage compared to paying $1,257 on a 30-year mortgage. Social media users were split on Pulte and Trump’s proposals about longer-term mortgages, with some believing that the plan would impose more debt on homebuyers. “I don’t like 50 year mortgages as the solution to the housing affordability crisis,” Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene wrote on X. “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. In debt forever, in debt for life!” Maggie Anders, who works at the Foundation for Economic Education, urged Trump to “reconsider.” “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. @realDonaldTrump, please reconsider,” Anders posted.” Others similarly suggested that a 50-year mortgage loan would equate to paying decades of rent. Kentucky Republican Congressman Thomas Massie said in a social media post: “How is ‘here, enjoy this 50 year mortgage’ different from ‘you will own nothing and you will like it.’” Other users defended the idea. “The 30 year mortgage is one of the best financial products available to Americans. 50 years is even better,” realtor John Pompliano wrote on X. “50 -year mortgage is probably the most pro-homeowner government policy of the last two decades,” Opendoor CEO Kaz Nejatian said.
