Overview
- President Trump promoted a 50-year mortgage to lower monthly payments, with FHFA Director Bill Pulte calling it a “complete game changer,” then Trump later downplayed it as “not a big deal.”
- Fresh analyses from UBS and LendingTree show far higher lifetime interest and slow equity build, including examples where a $500,000 loan racks up about $1.1 million in interest and only 4.2% of principal is paid after a decade.
- Experts disagree on the likely rate premium for a 50-year loan, with some research suggesting only a modest increase and market practitioners expecting materially higher rates that would further erode savings.
- Housing economists and industry voices say longer terms would not fix the core supply shortage and could intensify competition and price pressures, even as some practitioners see the product as a limited tool for lowering payments.
- Legal and market constraints loom large because current GSE rules cap mortgage terms at 30 years, and FHFA separately said it is evaluating portable mortgages as another potential option.