New Housing Order: Real Relief at 7% Mortgage Rates?

On October 22, 2026, President Trump signed an executive order titled Decreasing Housing Costs for the American People. It goes after four specific costs of owning a home: private mortgage insurance, title insurance on refinances, the price of factory-built homes and the interest rates on a small group of government direct loans.

The order landed on the same day as a less friendly number. Freddie Mac’s weekly survey put the average 30-year fixed rate at 7.32% on October 22, down from 7.40% a week earlier but more than a full point above the 6.19% average a year ago. The order does not direct any change to that rate.

So the fair question for buyers and owners is how much these steps help while rates sit above 7%. Below is what the order does, who it could reach and where its limits are.

What the Housing Executive Order Covers

The order has four main parts. Each one hands the details to a federal agency, and none of them comes with an effective date.

• PMI cancellation pilot: The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) director is told to have Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac test a program that cancels mortgage insurance once a borrower reaches the required equity based on the home’s current value.
• Cheaper refinance title costs: An existing FHFA pilot that lets some refinances skip a new lender’s title insurance policy would become an ongoing program offered nationwide through both companies.
• Manufactured housing task force: A new federal task force gets 180 days to recommend ways to make factory-built homes cheaper to produce and easier to finance.
• USDA and VA direct loan rates: The Secretaries of Agriculture and Veterans Affairs are told to lower interest rates on single-family home loans their departments make directly.

The PMI and title sections both start with the same condition. The FHFA director acts only if he determines the change is in the best interests of the two companies, the agency and the public. The order also states that it is subject to available funding and does not create any right a homeowner can enforce.

Automatic PMI Cancellation: How the Pilot Would Work

Private mortgage insurance (PMI) protects the lender, not the borrower, on a conventional loan with less than 20% down. Freddie Mac estimates it typically costs $30 to $70 a month for every $100,000 borrowed. On a $300,000 loan, that works out to roughly $90 to $210 a month, which makes it one of the bigger monthly costs that change when going from rent to a mortgage.

Under current federal rules, borrowers can ask to cancel PMI once the loan balance reaches 80% of the home’s original value, and it ends automatically at 78%. Both thresholds are tied to the price paid at purchase. Owners whose homes gained value faster can often remove PMI sooner, but they usually have to ask for it and pay for a new appraisal.

The pilot would flip that process. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would regularly review the loans they own or guarantee, use automated valuation models to estimate current home values and cancel PMI when a borrower meets the equity, payment history and other requirements. Servicers would be told to notify borrowers and cut appraisal costs and paperwork where the law allows.

Who the PMI Pilot Leaves Out

• Current homeowners. The pilot applies only to mortgages made after it is set up.
• FHA borrowers. FHA mortgage insurance runs under separate rules that this order does not change.
• Loans outside Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, such as many jumbo and portfolio loans.
• Owners in markets where prices are flat or falling, since the pilot depends on gains in current value.

Cheaper Refinances Through a Title Insurance Alternative

When a homeowner refinances, the new lender usually requires a fresh lender’s title insurance policy, paid for by the borrower. FHFA approved a small pilot in 2024 that lets an automated title review stand in for that policy on certain low-risk refinances. At the time, FHFA estimated savings of $500 to $1,500 in closing costs per eligible refinance. The pilot was limited to select areas and to loans under 80% loan-to-value.

The new order directs FHFA to turn that pilot into an ongoing nationwide program through both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It also asks FHFA to consider:

• Opening eligibility to refinances above 80% loan-to-value when title risk is low
• Removing geographic limits and approving more title review providers
• Waiving appraisals and income re-verification for limited cash-out refinances that lower the monthly payment
• Cutting loan-level price adjustments and other fees on those refinances

Lenders would have to pass the savings on to borrowers and tell them about it. Title insurance industry groups objected to the original pilot in 2024, and consumer advocates asked FHFA to track which borrowers actually see the savings. Those debates are likely to return as details come out.

The Rate Problem for Refinancing

Lower closing costs only matter if a refinance makes sense in the first place, and that depends on the rate. FHFA’s outstanding mortgage data showed roughly 80% of mortgages carried rates below 6% as of late 2025. With the average new rate at 7.32%, most of those owners would raise their payment by refinancing. The title savings mainly reach owners who bought or refinanced when rates were higher than today, or who need to refinance for another reason.

A Task Force for Manufactured Housing

The order creates the Task Force on Manufactured Housing Innovation, co-chaired by the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and the FHFA director. The Secretaries of Agriculture, Commerce and Veterans Affairs also sit on it. Its recommendations are due within 180 days, which puts the deadline around April 20, 2027.

The task force will look at standardizing inspections and approvals across federal housing programs, recognizing other agencies’ certifications, removing rules that slow modular and automated production and using federal financing to encourage more affordable factory-built homes. It will also study whether federal grants could encourage states and cities to adopt standard permitting for these homes, building on a March 2026 executive order on home construction. For now, no loan programs, eligibility rules or rates have changed.

USDA and VA Direct Loan Rate Cuts

This is the only part of the order that names interest rates, and it is narrow. It covers loans the USDA and VA make directly, not loans that private lenders make with a government guarantee. The order cites the laws behind two programs:

• USDA Section 502 Direct Loans for low- and very low-income buyers in eligible rural areas
• VA Native American Direct Loans for eligible Native American veterans buying, building or improving homes on federal trust land

Rates on standard VA-guaranteed mortgages, VA streamline refinances (IRRRLs) and USDA guaranteed loans from private lenders are not part of the order. No new rate for the direct programs has been announced, and any cut depends on current law and available funding.

The Bigger Picture: A 7% Mortgage Rate

Every part of this order works on the edges of the monthly payment. The rate itself sets the center of it.

Here is the scale. On a $300,000 30-year fixed loan, principal and interest at last year’s 6.19% average comes to about $1,835 a month. At 7.32%, it is about $2,061. That is roughly $225 more every month for the same loan.

Seen next to that gap, the order’s savings vary a lot by borrower. A buyer who qualifies early for PMI cancellation could drop $90 to $210 a month on that same loan, which is real money. But that buyer has to take out the loan after the pilot launches and then build enough equity to qualify. The refinance title savings are a one-time cut to closing costs, and only for the smaller group of owners for whom refinancing pays off at today’s rates.

Supporters of the order point out that PMI and title costs add up over the life of a loan and that many borrowers never ask to remove PMI when they could. Skeptics point to the limits: pilot programs, no effective dates, savings that depend on agency follow-through and nothing that changes rates for most borrowers. Mortgage rates track the bond market and are shaped by Federal Reserve policy, and the Fed raised its benchmark rate in September. An executive order on closing costs and insurance does not change either of those forces.

What Buyers and Homeowners Can Do Now

• Check your PMI today. Owners who already pay PMI do not need to wait for the pilot. Compare the loan balance with the home’s estimated value and ask the servicer what it takes to cancel.
• Run the refinance math first. A cheaper title process does not help if the new rate is higher than the current one.
• Compare closing cost estimates. Title charges and lender fees vary. Ask about title options once the expanded program is in place.
• Look into direct loan eligibility. Rural buyers with lower incomes and Native American veterans can check whether a USDA or VA direct loan fits.
• Price in today’s rate. Sellers can read about selling a home with rates near 7%, buyers can look at markets where prices sit furthest below the national median and move-up buyers can learn about making an offer before selling a current home.

Local prices, inventory and loan options differ from one market to the next. A REMAX agent can help put national news like this in context for a specific neighborhood and budget.

The Bottom Line

The October 22 housing order targets real costs that buyers and owners pay, especially PMI and refinance closing costs. Its biggest benefits depend on pilot programs that have not launched and on agency decisions still to come. With the average 30-year rate at 7.32%, the rate remains the largest factor in what most buyers pay each month, and this order does not address it.