How Will Trump’s Executive Order on Emergency Price Relief Affect the Housing Market?

Since reoccupying the Oval Office in recent days, President Trump has pushed for several changes to the federal government and issued a high number of executive orders. An executive order is a directive issued by the President of the United States to manage federal government operations. Executive orders carry the force of law and cannot be directly overturned by Congress.

One of the most publicized of Trump’s executive orders calls for the government to provide emergency price relief to Americans via several actions, including lowering housing costs and boosting housing inventory. How should this directive be interpreted? What will this order ultimately mean to home buyers and home builders? And what difficulties will the Trump Administration likely experience in making housing more affordable? Read on for answers and insights.

How to interpret Trump’s executive order

On January 20, 2025, President Trump issued an executive order titled Delivering Emergency Price Relief for American Families and Defeating the Cost-of-Living Crisis. In it, he states that “many Americans are unable to purchase homes due to historically high prices, in part due to regulatory requirements that alone account for 25 percent of the cost of constructing a new home according to recent analysis.”

Continuing, the executive order commands the heads of all executive departments and agencies “to deliver emergency price relief, consistent with applicable law, to the American people and increase the prosperity of the American worker. This shall include pursuing appropriate actions to lower the cost of housing and expand housing supply.”

Industry insiders parse this document as a bold declaration and mandate that’s warranted. Case in point: In a written statement, the National Association of Realtors’ (NAR) chief advocacy officer Shannon McGahn said his organization applauds President Trump for focusing on these housing supply and affordability challenges.

“The President’s executive order underscores the critical need for bold, coordinated action to lower housing costs and increase the availability of homes for families across this country. NAR has long advocated for policies encouraging housing development, improving affordability, and supporting sustainable homeownership opportunities. We look forward to working with the Administration in the next steps and putting this executive order into motion.”

Real estate expert Rick Sharga, president/CEO of CJ Patrick Company, agrees that this executive order was more than justified.

“The president’s campaign was a promise to lower the cost of living, so this executive order reflects the Administration’s commitment to do that across the board,” explains Sharga. “Housing affordability is at its lowest level in 40 years today, so it was important that the President included finding ways to lower housing costs in this executive order.”

But while the necessity of addressing affordability is indisputable, the executive order lacks actionable clarity and details.

“The order’s vagueness is its greatest limitation,” says Dennis Shirshikov, a professor of economics and finance at City University of New York/Queens College. “By instructing agencies to act ‘consistent with applicable law,’ it provides little direction for concrete action. It’s almost aspirational in tone rather than binding. A stronger version of this order would set specific targets, such as reducing the regulatory cost percentage by a set amount within a defined timeframe or identifying specific federal regulations to streamline. Without this level of detail, it risks being a statement of principles rather than a catalyst for real change.”

Nevertheless, many are excited that the new Administration is clearly prioritizing the real estate affordability problem.

“The clearest and most unifying aspect of this executive order is to pursue lowering the cost of housing and expanding housing supply, which is encouraging to see. There is substantial alignment within the housing industry that increasing supply is needed to improve housing affordability, especially for first-time home buyers,” Kenon Chen, executive vice president of Strategy and Growth at Clear Capital, notes.

How the executive order could impact the housing market

If its aims are realized, Trump’s directive will ultimately benefit two specific groups:

• Home buyers, particularly first-time purchasers, many of whom cannot afford today’s high home prices or the steep costs of mortgage financing due to rising rates
• Home builders, who could be incentivized to construct more new residences if building and material costs come down.

“Unfortunately, it’s highly unlikely that this executive order will have any real effect on home prices in the near term. But if it ultimately results in federal regulations being rolled back a bit, it could lower the cost of home construction and make it possible for builders to bring more entry-level homes to the market,” Sharga continues.

If that occurs, builders might increase production, creating more opportunities for homebuyers and boosting market supply. This could help moderate home price growth and enhance affordability.

“Remember, though, that regulatory reforms require coordination across federal, state, and local levels – which takes years, so the short-term impact on the housing market is likely negligible,” cautions Shirshikov.

Ask personal finance expert Andrew Lokenauth and he’ll tell you that any meaningful changes would probably take at least 12 to 24 months to happen.

“Buyers probably won’t see immediate price relief in the wake of this executive order. Builders might get some regulatory relief, but not game-changing relief,” he says.

Challenges Trump faces to bring housing costs down

Increasingly high home prices, lingering inventory shortages, and rising mortgage interest rates are complex problems that can’t be solved quickly with the stroke of a pen from the commander-in-chief. Indeed, the pros believe Trump faces major headwinds in his quest to improve these matters.

“Low housing supply is an issue that has been created by years of underbuilding, starting in the aftermath of the housing financial crisis,” Chen adds. “Accelerating new-home construction is the right issue to focus on, but closing the shortage gap will take time. Meanwhile, mortgage rates remain high, creating a lock-in effect for existing homeowners – which constrains supply further.”

Perhaps the biggest hurdle the administration must clear is jurisdictional complexity. Keep in mind that housing regulation is primarily local, and municipalities often resist zoning reforms due to “not in my backyard” (NIMBY) opposition.

“Additionally, macroeconomic factors like high interest rates and construction labor shortages are beyond the administration’s immediate control,” Shirshikov says, “further complicating efforts to bring down costs.”

Significant change will require comprehensive efforts across government levels, insists Albert Lord, founder/CEO of Lexerd Capital Management.

“Challenges for Trump include regulatory complexity and political resistance, with uncertain impacts on prices and affordability,” he says. “If I were president, I would focus on increasing construction to create more supply, which could be accomplished through aggressive deregulation and quick processes in permitting. I would also focus on providing incentives to buyers via tax credits or related tax incentives.”

Setting realistic expectations

While it’s good to think positive and remain hopeful, if you’re a home buyer candidate it’s also smart to set realistic expectations about the extent to which the Trump Administration can appreciably better housing matters.

“There are limits to what the federal government in general, and the president individually, can do to impact home affordability,” says Sharga. “State and local government regulations and zoning laws have much more control over both the volume and cost of home construction. And the government can’t simply dictate mortgage rates or home prices. But the real impact the president and federal government can have is very meaningful: enact policies that lower inflation, decrease the cost of living in general, create more jobs, promote economic growth that improves wages, and reduce the federal deficit – which, in turn, would lower interest rates across the board. None of this can happen overnight.”

Nevertheless, the president can help get the ball rolling and shine a spotlight on particular issues with his executive orders and bully pulpit.

“Presidential decisions focusing on fiscal and budgetary issues can indirectly influence housing market developments. Their decisions about fiscal expansion and government investments can affect both interest rates and inflation rates and set the tone for the economic climate overall,” Lord says.

Looking ahead

To recap, don’t expect dramatic or rapid changes from this executive order.

“Housing affordability will remain a challenge, and market forces will likely have more sway than presidential policy,” says Lokenauth.

In the short term, Shirshikov expects minimal impact on the housing market beyond symbolic gestures from the president.

“Long-term effectiveness will depend entirely on the administration’s ability to translate executive orders into actionable policies that incentivize state and local governments to reform zoning laws and reduce barriers to construction,” he adds.

In the coming months, Lord envisions the federal government easing some regulations affecting construction, which would stimulate real estate market activity.

“But long-term housing affordability improvements will hinge on broader economic factors like interest rates and inflation control,” he cautions.

Chen anticipates that deregulation will be a huge focus over the next four years, with steps already underway to implement new leadership aligned with this goal.

“Hopefully, however, there will be a thoughtful balance between keeping existing policies that are already making a positive impact on housing amid the flurry of changes,” he says. “There’s no reason to throw out the baby with the bathwater if the goal is to increase housing affordability and reduce cost for homeowners.”