On Thursday, October 22, 2026, President Trump signed an executive order, “Decreasing Housing Costs for the American People.”
The order went out 12 days before the midterm elections, with four changes aimed at reducing regulatory and cost barriers to homeownership. However, almost every provision in the order depends on a future agency decision, funding, or a task force report.
Let’s look at the four biggest proposed changes and what has to happen before housing costs can be decreased.
The 4 Biggest Takeaways From the Housing Cost Order
1. PMI Could Come Off Automatically
The first change is about private mortgage insurance, or PMI. Under Section 2, the FHFA Director has to direct Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to set up a pilot program if he decides it’s in the best interests of the two companies or FHFA and the public.
The pilot would review single-family loans that Fannie and Freddie own or back on a recurring basis. It would use automated valuation models, which are computer tools that estimate a home’s current value from data, to find borrowers who appear to have enough equity to cancel their mortgage insurance.
Before canceling anyone’s PMI, Fannie or Freddie would have to confirm these conditions:
- The borrower meets equity requirements based on the home’s current market value
- Canceling fits financial safety and soundness standards and the company’s contracts
- The borrower meets every other legal, contractual, regulatory and Fannie or Freddie requirement for cancellation
Payment history would be part of the pilot’s rules. Servicers would have to let borrowers know when their mortgage insurance may be canceled, as long as the law allows it and it’s operationally feasible. They’d also need to cut unnecessary paperwork requests, appraisal costs and other hurdles that make canceling harder.
There’s one big hold-up: the pilot covers mortgages made after it’s set up, so homeowners with existing loans won’t see a change from it.
In theory, though, eligible buyers who close after the pilot starts wouldn’t need to start the cancellation process on their own.
2. Refinancing Could Cost Less and Take Less Paperwork
Section 4 takes aim at the cost of title insurance on refinances. If the FHFA Director decides it’s in the best interests of Fannie and Freddie or FHFA and the public, he has to direct them to turn their title acceptance pilot into an ongoing program available nationwide.
Under the program, Fannie or Freddie could accept an automated title review or another FHFA-approved title check in place of a lender’s title insurance policy on eligible refinances.
The order lists four changes the FHFA Director has to consider as the program grows:
- Opening eligibility to refinances with loan-to-value ratios above the current 80% limit, as long as title risk stays low
- Removing geographic limits and approving more title-check providers to boost competition
- Waiving appraisals, income re-verification and other paperwork for limited cash-out refinances that lower the borrower’s monthly payment, when Fannie and Freddie’s data support it
- Cutting or eliminating loan-level price adjustments, which are risk-based fees Fannie and Freddie charge, along with other fees on these refinances
Any money the program saves has to be passed on to borrowers, and lenders have to tell borrowers about those savings.
For your qualifying homeowners, eligible refinances could come with lower closing costs and less paperwork.
3. A New Federal Task Force Will Target Factory-Built Housing
Section 3 creates the Task Force on Manufactured Housing Innovation. According to the order, the goal is “to increase the quality and lower the cost of building a home.”
The HUD Secretary and the FHFA Director will co-chair the group. Its other members are:
- The Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke Rollins
- The Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnick
- The Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Doug Collins
The task force has 180 days to send the President recommendations on using modern manufacturing to build manufactured and other factory-built homes that qualify for federal housing programs.
Those recommendations will cover:
- Common specifications, certifications, inspections and approvals across federal housing programs
- Agencies recognizing each other’s licenses, certifications and inspections so the same work isn’t done twice
- Removing federal rules and repeat reviews that slow factory production or add time and cost to bringing homes to market
- Using federal financing, insurance and guarantee programs to encourage more affordable manufactured and factory-built homes
- Boosting competition among manufacturers while keeping standards for safety, quality, durability and consumer protection
The task force will look at whether federal grant money can be tied to state and local adoption of standardized permitting and licensing for these homes, or used to encourage it. Its work builds on best practices from Executive Order 14394, signed March 13, 2026, and it’ll prepare legislative recommendations.
Agencies on the task force have to act on its recommendations within their authority. Any effect on housing supply or construction costs would come after those recommendations turn into action.
4. USDA and VA Direct Loans Could Carry Lower Rates
Section 5 tells the Secretaries of Agriculture and Veterans Affairs to lower interest rates on single-family home loans their departments make themselves. Any cuts have to follow applicable law and depend on available funding.
The cuts apply to direct loans from USDA and VA, which are a separate category from the USDA- and VA-backed mortgages private lenders offer.
Borrowers who qualify for those direct loans could see lower borrowing costs.
What Has to Happen Before Your Clients See Savings
None of these changes took effect the day the order was signed. Here’s what each one depends on:
- The FHFA Director has to decide the PMI pilot and the title program are in the best interests of Fannie and Freddie or FHFA and the public
- The task force’s recommendations are due within 180 days, around April 20, 2027
- USDA and VA rate cuts depend on available funding
Section 6 adds that the order doesn’t create any rights people can enforce in court.
Keep an eye out for FHFA announcements on the PMI pilot and the title program. Those will spell out who’s eligible and when each one starts.
