Trump order targets mortgage insurance and title costs

U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Oct. 22, 2026, directing federal agencies to cancel some mortgage insurance automatically, widen a title insurance waiver for refinances and set up a task force on factory-built homes.

The order, titled “Decreasing Housing Costs for the American People,” sets no dollar targets. The White House fact sheet contains no cost estimates, rate figures or savings projections for any of its four measures.

The first measure directs the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, to create a pilot that proactively cancels mortgage insurance premiums once a borrower has enough equity, based on current market value. Mortgage Professional reported that the pilot would use automated valuation models to check home values on loans the two companies own, and that servicers would have to tell borrowers when cancellation may be possible. The same report said the pilot applies only to mortgages made after it launches, so current homeowners paying mortgage insurance would not benefit.

The second measure makes permanent a pilot that lets some borrowers use an alternative to a title insurance policy when refinancing, which could reduce closing costs. Mortgage Professional reported that the order directs the agency to raise the current 80 per cent loan-to-value ceiling, add providers and drop geographic limits.

The third creates a Task Force on Manufactured Housing Innovation, co-chaired by the housing secretary and the FHFA director. Mortgage Professional reported that it has 180 days to give recommendations to the president. The Manufactured Housing Institute says the average manufactured home cost $123,300 last year, compared with about $406,000 for a site-built home, the publication reported. The fourth measure directs the agriculture and veterans affairs secretaries to reduce interest rates on their single-family home loans.

Reaction from the industry was mixed in scale. Bob Broeksmit, president and chief executive of the Mortgage Bankers Association, welcomed the order’s “continued focus on lowering housing costs,” Mortgage Professional reported. Brendan McKay, a broker-owner who co-founded the Broker Action Coalition, told HousingWire: “This is a big deal.” Analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods said in an Oct. 21 note that the effect on mortgage companies and the wider market is likely to be limited, HousingWire reported. They noted that the title pilot operates in only a few regions and that refinances account for about 7 per cent of title premiums.

Neither report gave deadlines for the mortgage insurance, title or loan-rate measures, and HousingWire said the final text of the order was not on the White House website when it published. Trump has signed several housing actions this year, including an order in January limiting large institutional investors from buying single-family homes, according to the fact sheet.

For Canadians, the order does not change any rule on this side of the border, but the two housing markets are linked. Canadian softwood lumber faces combined U.S. duties and tariffs of almost 35 per cent, the BC Lumber Trade Council said, a cost it argued raises home-building prices in the United States, as we reported. Mortgage costs are also in focus in both countries ahead of the Federal Reserve and Bank of Canada rate decisions on Oct. 28, and the Canadian Real Estate Association has cut its 2026 home sales forecast a third time.

What happens next depends on the agencies. The task force’s 180-day clock and the FHFA’s pilot designs are the first things to watch, and the White House has not said when either will begin.

Via HousingWire and Mortgage Professional. Primary source: White House fact sheet, Oct. 22, 2026.

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