US President Donald Trump is set to announce a plan that would let Americans use their retirement savings for down payments on homes.
National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett, who hinted at the plan on Friday, offered few details about how withdrawals from US workplace retirement accounts – known as 401(k)s – would work.
“Suppose that you put 10% down on a home, and then you take 10% of the equity of the home and put it in as an asset in your 401(k). Then your 401(k) will grow over time,” Hassett said on Fox Business.
Trump will present a “final plan” at the Davos World Economic Forum next week, he added.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the upcoming proposal, including the tax implications. Currently, employees who opt to withdraw money from retirement accounts typically incur fees and taxes.
The anticipated 401(k) plan is the latest in a slew of recent housing affordability proposals as Trump’s administration faces growing public pessimism about its handling of the economy.
Home affordability remains high on the list of Americans’ concerns. Trump has in recent weeks sought to allay voter anxiety ahead of midterm elections later this year, announcing a series of proposals aimed at addressing the high cost of housing.
Daryl Fairweather, the chief economist at Redfin, said using retirement funds for down payments won’t solve the housing affordability crisis. But it could help some people meet their current financial needs, and better position themselves for retirement.
“It doesn’t really drift that far from the purpose of 401(k)s, which is to encourage people to save money for these big expenses that they may not have the discipline to save for,” Fairweather said.
She compared it to a pandemic-era temporary policy that allowed people to access funds from their retirement accounts for down payments with fewer penalties.
Still, she said it would be concerning if people were to start draining their 401(k)s in order to buy a home. That home could eventually lose its value, putting them in a worse financial position.
Last week, Trump said he would move to ban big corporate investors from buying single-family homes, in a bid to make housing more affordable for Americans. That pledge bolstered an idea that has been circulating for years, though some analysts question the extent to which a ban would affect prices.
Jason Richardson, senior research director for the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, said that proposal and this latest plan, “sound good but don’t actually address the core affordability and supply problems in housing”.
Only about 55% of Americans have retirement accounts, of which only a subset are 401(k)s, according to government estimates. Low income workers are the least likely to have access to the plans.
“This isn’t a targeted assistance program for people who need help with down payments – it’s giving people who already have substantial retirement savings more purchasing power, which will likely just drive home prices up further,” he wrote in an email.
Trump also recently directed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-backed housing finance firms, to buy $200bn (£149.4bn) worth of mortgage bonds. The move, he claimed, would push down mortgage rates.
An increase in purchases could boost demand for the so-called mortgage-backed securities, which could in turn help lower mortgage rates for borrowers.
The average rate on a 30-year mortgage fell below 6% for the first time in nearly three years following his announcement – “and that’s not with the help of the Fed,” Trump said during a speech in Michigan this week, referring to the Federal Reserve. The US central bank’s benchmark interest rate can indirectly affect mortgage rates.
On Friday, Hassett promoted Trump’s move to order bond purchases.
“We’ve seen a pretty big reaction to the announcement, and I think that actually makes us all feel better, because the truth is that fewer people are buying homes right now than we’ve seen pretty much in my lifetime,” he said.
But housing economists have cautioned that the bond purchases might not push mortgage rates substantially lower in the long run.
“The key now is the timing and cadence of these purchases, which will determine whether the impact is healthy or introduces volatility into the mortgage market,” said Jeff DerGurahian, head economist at loanDepot, a mortgage lender.
