Trump says Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will put $40bn into Florida mortgages

The pledge is far more specific than the housing-cost measures the White House has offered so far, and it arrives with mortgage rates still well above the level that would revive buying.

Donald Trump has given his housing policy a hard number: $40bn of Florida mortgage investment from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It is unusually precise for an administration that has mostly dealt in broad talk about housing costs, including the executive order he signed on October 22, which the White House described only in general terms. A draft of that order, reported by Scotsman Guide, would have directed the two companies to cut mortgage financing costs.

The pledge also meets a mixed rate picture. The average 30-year mortgage rate has eased to 7.32% from 7.40%, a modest loosening, and added purchase volume in one state would sit on top of it. But the Fed has raised its rate to 3.75%-4%, Chair Kevin Warsh points to inflation still running hot, and money markets price three more hikes over the next year, with bond yields at multi-year highs. Trump keeps calling for lower rates. Warsh has voted for higher ones and resisted him.

That tension is why the figure deserves caution. Trump's large announcements tend to depend on others to deliver. Taiwan's economic affairs ministry said it could invest up to $4.4bn in Alaska LNG, against his claim of $70-80bn in offtake. A $40bn Florida programme will be judged by loans closed, and with borrowers needing a sustained fall below 7% to revive purchase and refinance activity, a rate path pointing the other way is the bigger constraint on those numbers.