President Trump generated a wave of mostly negative response from his comments during yesterday’s Cabinet meeting where he insisted on keeping home prices high and appeared to denigrate many first-time homebuyers as not being deserving of the American Dream.
During the meeting, Trump addressed the question of affordable homeownership by declaring, “We’re not going to destroy the value of their homes so that somebody that didn’t work very hard can buy a home. I don’t want to drive housing prices down. I want to drive housing prices up for people who own their homes. And they can be assured that’s what’s going to happen.”
Trump’s comments mostly generated harsh responses. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), the Ranking Member of the Senate Banking Committee, responded, “Donald Trump seems to think that if you can’t afford to buy a home in his economy, then you ‘didn’t work very hard.’ That’s about the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard, especially when millions of hardworking Americans can’t afford to buy their own home.”
Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) echoed Warren’s comments, writing on X, “Are you trying to buy your first home? Trump wants your prices to go up. But sure Donald, keep saying affordability is a hoax.”
Outside of the political realm, Trump got a thumbs down from Jon Brooks, co-founder of Momentum Realty in Jacksonville, Florida, and a Substack and YouTube commentator on housing, chimed in by stating, “It used to be 3x income to buy a house now it’s 6x. It’s literally 2x the amount of work to buy a house… what is he talking about? Totally out of touch.”
Brooks added in a direct retort to Trump, “Just say you’re choosing asset owners over future homeowners.”
Trump’s remarks also raised hackles on the right. Joel Griffith, senior fellow at the conservative-focused Advancing American Freedom, tweeted, “The UNAFFORDABLE presidency… Trump promises to endeavor to further inflate home prices.”
However, Andres Mambuca Jr., a realtor and president of The Mambuca Companies in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, came to Trump’s defense by stating, “He’s right: lowering prices across the board is not the answer. Home equity is still the #1 way most families create and pass down generational wealth.”
Mambuca stressed that increasing housing supply would bring prices down, and he added that Trump was “spot-on about wealth building. For the millions of homeowners who have worked hard, paid their mortgages, and built equity, a rising (or at least stable) market protects and grows that wealth. Crashing prices would wipe out trillions in household net worth overnight — that’s not the American Dream.”
