President Donald Trump’s approach to the United States housing market is coming under increasing scrutiny as home prices continue to soar and affordability remains out of reach for millions of Americans. Critics argue that the president’s policy mix — focused on deregulation, trade restrictions and limited federal intervention — has done little to address the fundamental drivers of the housing crisis and, in some cases, has exacerbated the problem.
At a recent Cabinet meeting, Trump signalled that his priorities may not align with the concerns of would-be homebuyers, stating that he does not want to see housing prices fall because higher values benefit current homeowners. “We’re not going to destroy the value of their homes so that somebody that didn’t work very hard can buy a home,” he said, highlighting a divide between protecting existing property owners and expanding access to affordable housing.
That stance has drawn sharp criticism from economists and housing advocates who say that rising inequality, limited housing supply and structural market issues are the main forces driving up costs, not just regulatory constraints. Deregulation alone, they argue, cannot counteract the long-term trend of home prices outpacing income growth, particularly in major urban markets.
The affordability challenge has intensified despite Trump’s claims of economic progress on other fronts. Recent reports show that broader cost-of-living pressures — including elevated energy and food prices — remain a political and economic headache for the administration, with affordability emerging as a key concern among voters.
Part of the affordability squeeze is tied to housing supply. Independent analyses suggest that tariffs imposed under the Trump administration on construction materials like lumber, steel, and other key inputs have raised the cost of building new homes, potentially resulting in hundreds of thousands fewer new units over the next several years. Higher construction costs are passed on to buyers, making entry-level homes more expensive and slowing supply growth needed to ease price pressures.
Efforts by the White House to propose market-oriented fixes — such as reducing barriers for builders or exploring direct interventions in mortgage markets — have had limited impact so far. Some policymakers within the administration have floated measures such as restricting large institutional investors from buying single-family homes in hopes of loosening supply constraints, but experts say such proposals are unlikely to significantly move the needle without broader structural reforms.
Meanwhile, independent forecasts project that without meaningful policy change, home prices will continue to rise, and the gap between incomes and housing costs will persist. Capital Economics, among others, warns that even with some moderation in mortgage rates, affordability is likely to remain stretched through the next several years because supply remains too tight and demand continues to outstrip it.
As Americans grapple with the dual pressures of homeownership costs and broader living expenses, critics assert that the Trump administration’s housing strategy — rooted in market deregulation and political calculus — lacks the scale and focus necessary to tackle deeply entrenched affordability woes, leaving many families struggling to realise the dream of owning a home.
