Trump Administration Can Offset Fed Rate Hike's Housing Costs Through Deregulation, Antitrust Action, and Mortgage Reform
Source: Josh Hammer. "How Trump Can Fight The Fed’s Threat To Housing Affordability." September 28, 2026. thefederalist.com
The Gist
The author argues that even though Trump can't control the Federal Reserve's decision to raise interest rates (which makes mortgages and rents more expensive), his administration still has other tools to fight rising housing costs. Specifically, it can cut red tape that slows down homebuilding, investigate whether big real estate companies are unfairly hiding home listings from competitors, and simplify mortgage rules to make loans cheaper and easier to get.
Conclusion
Although the White House cannot control the Federal Reserve's interest rate decisions, the Trump administration can still meaningfully improve housing affordability through three federal policy levers: reducing construction regulation, increasing competition in real estate listings, and lowering hidden mortgage costs.
Premises
- The Fed's recent quarter-point rate hike raises mortgage rates and rents, working against Trump's housing affordability goals.
- Housing affordability problems are fundamentally tied to supply constraints caused by local, state, and federal regulations that slow or increase the cost of construction.
- Trump's March executive order already directs agencies to streamline residential construction regulations, and prioritizing implementation could reduce housing costs.
- Dominant real estate players (e.g., Compass and Midwest Real Estate Data) may be restricting access to housing listings through private-listing arrangements, which could constitute anticompetitive conduct that the DOJ should investigate.
- Reduced competition in listing access limits buyer choice and may artificially inflate the advantage of dominant brokerages, warranting antitrust scrutiny.
- Mortgage costs are driven not just by interest rates but by regulatory burdens on loan origination, servicing, and documentation, particularly for small and community banks.
- Trump's existing executive order on mortgage credit could reduce financing costs if regulators act quickly to streamline these rules.
- Collectively, these three federal-level interventions—supply-side deregulation, antitrust enforcement, and mortgage rule simplification—can measurably lower housing costs even though the Fed's rate remains outside White House control.
Assumptions
- Streamlining permitting and regulatory review will meaningfully increase housing supply in a short timeframe (before the midterms).
- The private-listing practices of major brokerages like Compass constitute anticompetitive behavior rather than legitimate business innovation or client preference.
- Reducing regulatory compliance costs for mortgage origination will translate into lower costs for consumers rather than being absorbed as increased lender profit.
- Federal-level policy changes can produce measurable effects on housing affordability quickly, despite housing markets being influenced by many slow-moving structural factors (labor, materials, local zoning).
- The Trump administration's antitrust enforcement will be applied based on competition concerns rather than political considerations.
- The executive orders already issued will be implemented effectively and swiftly by federal agencies.