Donald Trump has pitched a 50-year mortgage as the ultimate housing crisis fix. It basically stretches out the debt over half a century, so the monthly payments slide down. But the tradeoff? You pay more interest than the house is worth.
What the Trump administration is advertising as a breakthrough for affordability is simply a breakthrough for banks. The GOP’s latest housing reform idea stretches mortgages to 50 years to lower the monthly payment on your house. But it also ensures you’ll keep paying long after your hair turns gray. And given the average age of first-time buyers, many will never see the day when that mortgage is paid off.
Under the proposal announced by Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Bill Pulte, borrowers now have an amazing option to lock in half-century loans. And immediate math on that does look merciful. A $400,000 mortgage at 6.5% drops from roughly $2,038 a month on a 30-year to $1,822 on a 50-year mortgage (via Men’s Journal). But, at the same time, they’ll have to hand the bank hundreds of thousands more in interest. At the end, the total cost to a borrower balloons past $2.5 million.
In realistic terms, young people will spend their lives paying mortgages to cut down $300 from their monthly loan payment. And, they might not even live to see the day the home is completely theirs. That’s not homeownership, it’s practically a generational indenture. Even Marjorie Taylor Greene called the plan “in debt forever, in debt for life.” She warned in an X post how it rewards builders and lenders, not buyers.
Instead, MTG proposed stopping Wall Street from buying up single-family homes and letting long-term renters qualify for mortgages. The sentiment echoed among common Americans, who argued that the affordability effort should begin with banning hedge funds from buying homes. And a little research proved how a 50-year term might slightly ease monthly payments, but it also inflates prices. It would encourage buyers to borrow more and sellers to raise costs (via The Hill).
Even worse impact of the 50-year mortgage would be households trapped in negative equity for decades. The U.S. already holds a record $13.1 trillion in mortgage debt. Stretching it further doesn’t make homes cheaper, only fattens bank balance sheets. What the Trump administration calls innovation is really financial stagnation disguised as progress. It promises ownership while chaining Americans to a loan that could outlive them.
But people did the math that Trump ignored. “First-time buyers are in their 40s,” one user wrote on X. “That means you could pay off your house at 92.” Another added, “It’ll make homes more affordable on paper, but it’s basically renting from the bank for life.” A third called it what it is: “a time cage.” While Trump wants Americans to believe his 50-year mortgage is a lifeline, it’s just a leash in reality.
If the GOP actually cared about affordability, it’d tackle the monopoly of hedge funds like BlackRock that turn family houses into corporate assets. They should start by expanding social housing and raising wages to meet real costs. Because stretching debt until it feels infinite isn’t really the dream Americans are chasing.
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