Mba’s Broeksmit On Trump Orders, Ai And Mortgage Affordability At Ice X26

“Just when I think things are falling in place, another wild card arrives,” Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) president and CEO Bob Broeksmit said Tuesday morning at ICE Experience’s X26 annual mortgage conference. 

In a conversation with ICE Mortgage Technology President Bob Hart that spanned recent executive orders, mergers and acquisitions, and artificial intelligence, Broeksmit admitted that strong partisanship in the Trump administration makes it hard for legislation to pass.

Broeksmit’s words were a candid glimpse into the state of the country’s mortgage market and housing crisis, which is grappling with challenges like low inventory, affordability and economic concerns.

“I’m not saying we lack affordable supply. I’m just saying we don’t lack supply because, if you can’t build it at an affordable price, then there’s no demand, and people are reasonable and respond to economic stimulus,” Broeksmit said. 

When asked about the psychological component behind affordability, Broeksmit said that some borrowers simply feel as if it’s “pointless” to wait for lower rates due to the country’s current fiscal performance.

“Let’s face it — America’s fiscal situation is terrible,” he said. “Even if, let’s say, Kevin Warsh gets confirmed [as Federal Reserve chair] he has to work collaboratively with the other members of the Fed board to get rates down … which takes time.”

In regard to President Donald Trump’s early 2026 executive orders, Broeksmit said that he understands “the political impetus” for discouraging or prohibiting large investors from buying houses. He also said he didn’t think 50-year mortgages or portable mortgages were “silver bullets” to address the affordability crisis.

Broeksmit said that the administration’s latest orders that aim to increase the U.S. housing supply and consumer access to mortgage credit are “helpful as a road map.”

“We want all capital sources to benefit, because we want all borrowers to benefit — not if you go to this kind of lender, you get a faster process or a cheaper one,” he said.

“They could lower the mortgage insurance premium, probably combined with tailoring some risk out of the layered risk, and that would also flow through super uniquely. So those are the kinds of things we’re working with the administration to do.”

When asked about the rapid growth of artificial intelligence in the mortgage industry, Broeksmit quipped, “What is the automation’s NMLS?”

“If it’s a relationship business, you probably need a human to relate to. So I think the lenders who will get this right will leverage the strength of their human relationships, and then, in the background, some of this stuff’s getting done by AI so that humans can talk to people,” he added.