Trump Highlights Housing Market Dilemma: Boost Buyers Without Hurting Homeowners

President Donald Trump addressed the housing affordability challenge during a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos on January 21, 2026, emphasizing his administration’s goal to aid first-time buyers without devaluing existing homeowners’ properties. Trump reiterated support for a $200 billion mortgage bond-buying program aimed at lowering interest rates and proposed banning institutional investors from purchasing single-family homes, calling such activity “not fair to the public.” He acknowledged that increasing affordability could depress home values, stating, “If I want to really crush the housing market, I could do that so fast… but you would destroy a lot of people that already have houses.” Economists note that while these measures may reduce buying costs, long-term affordability requires boosting housing supply. Years of underbuilding have created a shortfall of millions of homes, limiting the impact of demand-side policies. Efforts to expand supply risk falling afoul of homeowner interests, creating a political balancing act ahead of the 2026 midterms.