Trump has instead argued for protecting existing owners who have watched the values of their homes climb. It’s a position that flies in the face of what many economists, the real estate industry, local officials and apartment dwellers say is needed to fix a big chunk of America’s affordability problem.

“I don’t want to drive housing prices down. I want to drive housing prices up for people that own their homes, and they can be assured that’s what’s going to happen,” Trump told his Cabinet on Jan. 29.

That approach could bolster the Republican president’s standing with older voters, a group that over time has been more likely to vote in midterm elections. Those races in November will determine whether Trump’s party can retain control of the House and Senate.

“You have a lot of people that have become wealthy in the last year because their house value has gone up,” Trump said. “And you know, when you get the housing — when you make it too easy and too cheap to buy houses — those values come down.”

But by catering to older baby boomers on housing, Trump risks alienating the younger voters who expanded his coalition in 2024 and helped him win a second term, and he could wade into a “generational war” in the midterms, said Brent Buchanan, whose polling firm Cygnal advises Republicans.

“The under-40 group is the most important right now — they are the ones who put Trump in the White House,” Buchanan said. “Their desire to show up in an election or not is going to make the difference in this election. If they feel that Donald Trump is taking care of the boomers at their expense, that is going to hurt Republicans.”

The logic in appealing to older voters

In the 2024 presidential election, 81% of Trump’s voters were homeowners, according to AP VoteCast data. This means many of his supporters already have mortgages with low rates or own their homes outright, possibly blunting the importance of housing as an issue.

Older voters tend to show up to vote more than do younger people, said Oscar Pocasangre, a senior data analyst at liberal think tank New America who has studied the age divide in U.S. politics. “However, appealing to older voters may prove to be a misguided policy if what’s needed to win is to expand the voting base,” Pocasangre said.

Before the 2026 elections, voters have consistently rated affordability as a top concern, and that is especially true for younger voters with regard to housing.

Booker Lightman, 30, a software engineer in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, who identifies politically as a libertarian Republican, said the shortage of housing has been a leading problem in his state.

Lightman just closed on a home last month, and while he and his wife, Alice, were able to manage the cost, he said that the lack of construction is pushing people out of Colorado. “There’s just not enough housing supply,” he said.

Shay Hata, a real estate agent in the Chicago and Denver areas, said she handles about 100 to 150 transactions a year. But she sees the potential for a lot more. “We have a lack of inventory to the point where most properties, particularly in the suburbs, are getting between five and 20 offers,” she said, describing what she sees in the Chicago area.

New construction could help more people afford homes because in some cases, buyers qualify for discounted mortgage rates from the builders’ preferred lenders, Hata said. She called the current situation “very discouraging for buyers because they’re getting priced out of the market.”

But pending construction has fallen under Trump. Permits to build single-family homes have plunged 9.4% over the past 12 months in October, the most recent month available, to an annual rate of 876,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Trump’s other ideas to help people buy houses

Trump has not always been against increasing housing supply.

During the 2024 campaign, Trump’s team said he would create tax breaks for homebuyers, trim regulations on construction, open up federal land for housing developments and make monthly payments more manageable by cutting mortgage rates. Advisers also claimed that housing stock would open up because of Trump’s push for mass deportations of people who were in the United States illegally.

As recently as October, Trump urged builders to ramp up construction. “They’re sitting on 2 Million empty lots, A RECORD. I’m asking Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to get Big Homebuilders going and, by so doing, help restore the American Dream!” Trump posted on social media, referring to the government-backed lenders.

But more recently, he has been unequivocal on not wanting to pursue policies that would boost supply and lower prices.

In office, Trump has so far focused his housing policy on lobbying the Federal Reserve to cut its benchmark interest rates. He believes that would make mortgages more affordable, although critics say it could spur higher inflation. Trump announced that the two mortgage companies, which are under government conservatorship, would buy at least $200 billion in home loan securities in a bid to reduce rates.

Trump also wants Congress to ban large financial institutions from buying homes. But he has rejected suggestions for expanding rules to let buyers use 401(k) retirement accounts for down payments, telling reporters that he did not want people to take their money out of the stock market because it was doing so well.

There are signs that lawmakers in both parties see the benefits of taking steps to add houses before this year’s elections. There are efforts in the Senate and House to jump-start construction through the use of incentives to change zoning restrictions, among other policies.

One of the underlying challenges on affordability is that home prices have been generally rising faster than incomes for several years.

This makes it harder to save for down payments or upgrade to a nicer home. It also means that the places where people live increasingly double as their key financial asset, one that leaves many families looking moneyed on paper even if they are struggling with monthly bills.

There is another risk for Trump. If the economy grows this year, as he has promised, that could push up demand for houses — as well as their prices — making the affordability problem more pronounced, said Edward Pinto, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a center-right think tank.

Pinto said construction of single-family homes would have to rise by 50% to 100% during the next three years for average home price gains to be flat — a sign, he said, that Trump’s fears about falling home prices were probably unwarranted.

“It’s very hard to crater home prices,” Pinto said.

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The average home price in the six-county region now stands at $876,280, up 0.4% from May, according to data from Zillow.

Prices rose in all counties, including Los Angeles County, where the typical home costs $892,304.

In Orange County, the average is $1.16 million.

The increases represent another hit for prospective home buyers struggling to afford a home in an expensive region at a time when interest rates are the highest they’ve been in more than 20 years.

Only 14% of L.A. County households could reasonably afford a median-priced house in the fourth quarter, according to the California Assn. of Realtors. In the Inland Empire, the situation is better, but still fewer than 30% of households in Riverside and San Bernadino counties can afford a median-priced single-family house.

While affordability is the worst it has been since the 2000s housing bubble, some relief could be on the way.

Economists say home values are rising because of a shortage of homes for sale, though that is easing somewhat.

In June, the number of homes for sale in L.A. County rose 22% from a year earlier, the third consecutive month supply has risen. Other counties saw similar increases.

When mortgage interests rates surged in 2022, home prices fell as buyers pulled away and inventory swelled. But prices started rising again last year as homeowners increasingly chose not to sell, unwilling to give up rock-bottom mortgage rates on loans taken out before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now, economists and real estate agents say homeowners increasingly believe rates in the 6% to 7% range are here to stay and are deciding a new home is more important than keeping a 3% mortgage.

In theory, if the supply of homes for sale increases enough, home prices would fall. But many economists cite several reasons they believe that won’t happen.

California has long built too few homes relative to demand, the economy is growing and many homeowners will still choose to hold on to their ultra-low-rate mortgages.

A more likely scenario, according to experts, is home values will rise less than they have been, providing an opportunity for incomes to catch up.

That might already be happening.

June’s nearly 8% annual price increase is less than the 9% gains posted in recent months and the lowest since January.

Richard Green, director of the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate, said it’s too early to tell if home price growth is really starting to slow, or if the deceleration Zillow shows is noise in the data.

That said, he does expect a slowdown to come.

“Prices can’t go up 8% a year forever,” Green said.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. home prices surged again in October as the housing market continues to boom in the wake of last year’s coronavirus recession.

The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller 20-city home price index, out Tuesday, climbed 18.4% in October from a year earlier. The gain marked a slight deceleration from a 19.1% year-over-year increase in September but was about in line with what economists had been expecting.

All 20 cities posted double-digit annual gains. The hottest markets were Phoenix (up 32.3%), Tampa (28.1%) and Miami (25.7%). Minneapolis and Chicago posted the smallest increases, 11.5% each.

The housing market has been strong thanks to rock-bottom mortgage rates, a limited supply of homes on the market, and pent-up demand from consumers locked in last year by the pandemic. Many Americans, tired of being cooped up at home during the pandemic, are looking to trade up from apartments to homes or to bigger houses.

“Home price growth will slow further in the year ahead, but continue to go up,″ said Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com. “As housing costs eat up a larger share of home purchaser’s paychecks, buyers will get creative. Many will take advantage of ongoing workplace flexibility to move to the suburbs where despite home price gains, many can still find a lower price per square foot than nearby cities.″

It remains unclear if that shift is permanent or an aberration, said Craig Lazzara, managing director at S&P Dow Jones Indices.

“We have previously suggested that the strength in the U.S. housing market is being driven in part by a change in locational preferences as households react to the COVID pandemic,″ Lazzara said. “More data will be required to understand whether this demand surge represents an acceleration of purchases that would have occurred over the next several years, or reflects a more permanent secular change.″

Last week, mortgage rates fell — to 3.05% for the benchmark 30-year, fixed-rate and 2.66% for the 15-year fixed-rate home loan. The persistently low rates signal that credit markets appear more concerned about the omicron variant depressing economic growth than about the highest inflation rates in nearly 40 years.

The National Association of Realtors reported last week that sales of previously occupied homes rose for the third straight month in November to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.46 million.

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California’s 26-year-old program to get more people to put solar panels on their homes has been wildly successful, but state regulators may lower the incentives for people to go solar in a bid to reduce electricity bills for the rest of residents in the most populous U.S. state.

Current incentives allow residential solar customers to sell whatever energy they don’t use back to power companies at the retail rate for power, usually resulting in a big discount on their energy bills. But power companies say the savings are now so great that solar customers are no longer paying their fair share for the operation of the overall energy grid.

The future of the program, known as “net energy metering,” has prompted a fierce debate between the state’s major utilities and the solar industry. Regulators at the California Public Utilities Commission, which oversees the state’s major utilities and the rates they can set, are expected to issue proposed reforms on Monday. It comes as California strives to achieve its ambitious clean energy goals.

California’s net metering program launched in 1995 with the goal of boosting solar adoption in the famously sunny state. California now has more than 1.3 million residential solar installations, more than any other state, according to the solar industry. That number will only grow because since 2020 all newly constructed homes in California must have solar panels.

But as solar panels proliferated, criticism about the program grew. The major utility companies — Pacific Gas & Electric, San Diego Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison — say the current setup allows solar customers to sell their energy back into the grid for more than it’s worth. They say more needs to be done to make sure solar customers — most of whom still rely on power from utilities at nighttime — are paying for all the parts of the energy grid they use.

Power rates include many costs unrelated to energy generation, like transmission, distribution and even wildfire prevention work. When solar households pay significantly lower electricity bills — or no bills at all — they’re contributing less to those things. That means more of the cost is shouldered by other customers. The utilities peg that cost at $3 billion, though the solar industry disputes that number.

The California Public Utilities Commission began a process for reforming the program last year with an eye toward ensuring energy grid maintenance costs are spread equitably and making it easier for residents of all backgrounds to purchase solar panels. Currently, higher-income households are more likely to have solar panels than lower-income households because solar costs a lot of money up front.

There are a wide array of opinions on potential reforms — 18 groups including the solar industry, the utilities, ratepayer advocates and environmental groups submitted proposals to state regulators. A five-member commission will vote on the final PUC reform proposal, likely in January.

The solar industry warns a dramatic decrease in financial incentives would entice fewer people to add solar panels to their homes, jeopardizing the market and hurting the state’s ability to reach its clean energy goals. California is working to power all retail electricity with renewable or zero-carbon energy by 2045.

Solar panels on average cost between $20,000 and $25,000 to install on a California home, said Bernadette Del Chiaro, executive director at the California Solar and Storage Association, which represents 700 businesses involved in the solar market. It now takes about three to four years for homeowners to recoup installation costs by selling extra energy to the utilities, according to the companies.

The utilities have proposed lowering the amount of money solar customers get back, meaning it would take longer — 11 to 15 years — for homeowners to recover their costs. All residential solar customers would also have a “grid benefits charge” and a “customer charge” added to their bills that could be upwards of $70 per month.

The utilities’ desired changes wouldn’t apply to people who already have solar panels on their homes, only those who choose to install solar panels going forward. Low-income customers who install them within three years would pay lower fees.

The Utility Reform Network, a consumer advocacy group that’s often fighting with the utilities over rates, also wants to lower what households with solar panels are paid back for excess energy. The group has suggested locking in a 10-year price so homeowners know what they’ll be paid for excess energy before they install solar. They also want to increase the financial incentives for low-income households to participate.

“We are focused on affordability for everyone,” said Matt Freedman, staff attorney for the group.

The solar industry and its allies, including some environmental justice and clean energy organizations, say regulators should be looking for ways to boost incentives for California residents to buy solar panels, not decrease them.

Del Chiaro said the state should also be making it easier for people to buy solar storage systems alongside the panels. Such systems, which cost about $15,000 to install, allow people with solar panels to store their own energy for use when it gets dark, making them less reliant on the energy grid.

As more people build storage systems, the utilities will need to spend less on new power plants or transmission lines, she said. But it also means they’ll have fewer customers relying on them for energy.

“Utilities are really threatened now by batteries,” Del Chiaro said. “They’re really putting up a big fight to try to slow this market down.”

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We Buy Houses In California For Cash is a real estate investment company and offers an easy solution for landlords with bad tenants.

For Landlords/Homeowners, it has become more and more difficult to collect rent. For tenants that don’t pay rent, it is just a matter of time before they are evicted. But, if there happens to be a moratorium on evictions, tenants know they have the upperhand.

Landlords can work with struggling tenants. Even corporations may struggle to pay rent on their offices. No one wants to evict if it is possible to avoid that. It is better to negotiate a middle ground, assuming the tenant is worth keeping and has a history of paying on time. Of course, a pandemic can turn the economy on its head. Although that is a worse case scenario, tenants can go through financial difficulty at any time.

But what happens if you are a landlord and you have spoken with your tenant and there is no compromise? Or, what if your agreement hinges on the tenants’ financial situation improving, and it doesn’t? Is it time to evict?

The cost of an eviction is a factor in evicting. But, add to that the cost of lost rent and the time spent going through the correct process. At some point everything becomes too much for a landlord to handle. If an eviction drags out and there is no rent collection, the cost may be too high to continue.

Luckily, there is a solution for landlords in this situation. You no longer have to let tenants live for free while you work to implement a permanent solution. Instead of owning a property that is losing money every month and paying for an eviction, you can sell your house and let the new owner deal with the tenant! Who would buy a house with a tenant that needs to go? Cash home buyers will buy houses in any situation, including ones with bad tenants! Companies like We Buy California Houses for Cash want to buy your house! They can buy it with tenants and they can close fast!

We Buy California Houses for Cash is a Real Estate Investment company that buys houses for cash. We buy houses as-is in any condition and any situation. Because we buy with cash, we can close fast. We love to buy houses with tenants and we have a great program to make sure tenants are properly removed, humanely.

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If you live in a multi-story house, chances are you’ve looked at the no-man’s-land under a set of stairs and thought: That space could be made to look and function much better. The classic solution is to fill the unattractive void with a closet, which is a perfectly serviceable idea. But there are other, more imaginative possibilities – home office, mini-library, powder room, wet bar, dog kennel, to name a few – creative hardwood built-ins that can transform those formerly awkward architectural cul-de-sacs into a visually interesting, highly practical, value-adding features in your home.

“Today’s homeowners look on such unused square footage as a wasted resource,” says Linda Jovanovich of the American Hardwood Information Center, www.hardwoodinfo.com. “Solid hardwood built-ins not only provide the customization needed in an awkwardly configured space, but also bring the warmth and character of natural wood to a gloomy, uninviting spot.”

“If you do it right, an under-stairs hardwood built-in becomes a combination of a fine piece of furniture and a strong, reliable workhorse that should last a long time and be a sound investment,” says Laura Bohn, a New York interior designer. “Make sure that whatever you install addresses some real requirement in your daily life. Storage is usually a good choice, but think about what kind you need most – for wine, maybe, or a collection of vintage LP records. Functionality never goes out of style, so make sure it works for you.”

“No matter how thoughtfully designed, any type of under-stairs hardwood built-in should be well-made and carefully installed,” advises Melissa Morgan of San Antonio-based M Interiors. “And don’t forget the details. Make sure moldings, trims, and other decorative elements match existing millwork. Hinges, handles, or any other hardware should be chosen for beauty and stylistic appropriateness as well as functionality and durability.”

Finally, look for inspiration in books, magazines, and online. For example, staircases are often built against external walls. Architect Matthew Kerr of SOK Design Studio in Sandpoint, Idaho, took advantage of this fact by installing a fan-shaped window under a stair to create a naturally illuminated nook. He then designed a simple built-in daybed comprising a full-length twin mattress on a painted hardwood base with pullout drawers, like a cozy bunk on some old sailing ship. Even though the nook is small, it doesn’t look or feel claustrophobic, thanks to the window. The result is a delightful spot to relax, read a book, take a nap, or even accommodate an overnight guest.

Visit www.hardwoodinfo.com for more about under-stairs built-ins and other applications and products using American hardwoods.

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