President Trump Says He Wants To Keep Home Prices High, Lower Borrowing Costs

President Donald Trump said Thursday that his administration would seek to keep home values elevated even as it works to expand access to homeownership — framing rising prices as a source of newfound wealth for millions of homeowners and warning against policies that could drive values down.

Speaking at a cabinet meeting on Thursday, Trump argued that housing affordability must be balanced against protecting existing homeowners’ wealth.

“I don’t want those values to come down,” Trump said in the meeting, referring to home prices. “We have millions of people that own houses and, for the first time in their life, they’re wealthy because the house is worth $500,000 or $600,000 or more or less, but more money than it’s ever been worth before. I don’t want to do anything to knock that down.”

Trump framed rising home values as a major driver of household wealth and said policymakers should be cautious about making housing “too easy and too cheap” to buy, arguing that could reduce property values.

Balancing affordability and asset values

The president acknowledged political and economic tension between protecting homeowners and expanding access for first-time buyers, saying his administration would try to do both.

“We’re going to drive those values up, but we’re also going to try making it easier for people to buy,” Trump said, suggesting lower interest rates as the primary tool to reconcile those goals.

He argued that lower borrowing costs could keep prices elevated while reducing monthly payments for buyers.

“The best thing that can happen for both groups of people is lower interest rates, and those interest rates are coming down,” Trump said. “And with a proper intelligent person at the Fed, that person will be able to work with us to get interest rates down.”

Months of speculation came to an end Friday morning when Trump named former Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Warsh as his choice for the next Fed chair.

If confirmed, Warsh would replace current Chair Jerome Powell when Powell’s term expires in May.

Powell is also the subject of a current Department of Justice investigation that began as he and the president publicly disagreed over interest rates.

Opposition to low-income housing in high-value areas

Trump also criticized plans for low-income housing in wealthy neighborhoods. Referring to rebuilding efforts in Los Angeles after wildfires, he said he would oppose federal financing for low-income housing in certain high-value areas, claiming it would “destroy the value of their houses.”

For now, Trump’s message was clear; rising home values are a feature, not a bug, of his economic agenda — even as he promises to make it easier for more Americans to buy into the housing market.