With business leaders, economists and other members of the real estate community looking forward to next year with both trepidation and hope, it appears the federal government is targeting 2026 for a push intended to bolster the sputtering housing market—though with details still forthcoming.
During a primetime address on the evening of Dec. 17, President Donald Trump, in a speech focused on his administration’s economic priorities and progress, promised major action next year specifically related to housing.
“You will see this in the new year, I will announce some of the most aggressive housing reform plans in American history,” he said.
Days before, executives at one of the largest homebuilders in the country, Lennar, said that homebuilders around the country have been in close contact with “critical” members of the Trump administration, though they did not share much detail.
“I think the crystal ball around government activity is really complicated,” said Stuart Miller, executive chairman and co-CEO of Lennar. “We have received a lot of attention. There’s a lot of thought process going on. You’ve seen trial balloons put out around various types of programs.”
Trump has faced increasing pressure to address affordability issues more broadly, and housing specifically, as homeownership and home-buying costs have risen even further from historically unaffordable levels. Early in his second term, Trump issued an executive order to federal agencies to provide “emergency price relief” to the housing sector, naming regulation, climate policies and labor as primary barriers to be eliminated.
What the next steps are for 2026 is unclear, though. Facing questions from investors after a tough year and quarter for both Lennar and homebuilders more broadly, Miller made it clear that government action is a big factor in what the market looks like, while generally expressing optimism.
“We have very high expectations, and we’re pretty enthusiastic about it. Of course, everything is going to happen in the context of what’s happening to the economy, what’s happening to consumer confidence, and what’s happening to affordability. The government is going to play a role in that. I can’t predict what’s going to happen there,” he said.
Looking at his company’s financials, Miller claimed that the demand side is still there, and suggested that federal officials believe that bringing more supply onto the market is a major factor to addressing long-running issues.
“(I) don’t know how to say this, but…we’ve all heard from the government (that) the government certainly wants to see that we, as homebuilders and as the machine for supplying the homes that are needed in the country, that we’re focused on our growth model, and focused on how we bring affordability to market. So we’re going to knit all of this together,” he said.
In his speech, as he touted progress made in 2025, Trump claimed that his administration reduced mortgage payments by $3,000 annually—a trend that has generally shown up in the data, with Realtor.com® economists saying that mortgage payments fell below 30% of income in 2025.
He also promised the next chair of the Federal Reserve “believes in lower interest rates by a lot, and mortgage payments will be coming down even further.” Trump also sought to blame high housing costs on immigration, though most analyses have shown that immigration is not the primary cause of unaffordable housing or rising home prices and rents.
Without details on the likely federal action though, the picture for housing still remains unclear. So far, federal legislation and policy action has received mixed reviews from the housing sector, as tariffs roiled new home markets and dampened buyer demand, even as most industry stakeholders praised deregulation efforts.
Miller said the government shutdown also had a major impact that is still being felt, something that dampened enthusiasm even as interest rates fell.
But Miller said he was hopeful that the government would play a bigger role in improving housing prospects through various means in 2026.
“It does seem that the federal government is very focused on coming up with programming that kind of activates affordability,” he said. “What that’s going to look like, I just don’t know, but it does seem like there’s a lot of activity around focusing on this very important part of the economy.”
