Agency heads are in place. Scott Turner's publicly teased Opportunity Zones 2.0 & selling federal land for housing. The administration is moving quickly on housing.
My take? Construction and homebuilder relief are up next. The U.S. desperately needs more affordable, smaller single-family homes, yet the current system makes it nearly impossible for builders to deliver them. The fact that this hasn’t been addressed sooner is mind-blowing ... but help is finally on the way.
🔨 What’s Coming Next?
🏗️ Streamlined Permitting & Regulatory Cuts: Expect executive orders directing HUD, EPA, and Commerce to fast-track approvals, suspend non-essential regulations, and accelerate permitting for new home construction. This could be the first domino to fall in this arena. I'm expecting it any day now.
💰 Incentives for Affordable Homes: Expect bipartisan legislation to be introduced providing tax credits and funding for builders constructing smaller, more affordable homes or converting commercial spaces into housing.
💡 Lowering Costs of Construction Financing: Treasury & FHA could introduce new programs to reduce borrowing costs for builders, including expanding FHA-insured construction loans for builders developing starter homes. The FHA Mutual Mortgage Insurance (MMI) Fund's capital ratio was last reported at 11.47%, significantly surpassing the statutory minimum requirement of 2%.
🏃♂️➡️ Expedited Permitting Programs: Dept of Commerce could incentivize states to adopt “fast-track” permitting programs for homebuilders committing to affordable housing production.
🏡 Selling Federal Land for Housing: This is a no-brainer that's gaining traction, especially in high-cost markets.
👷 Fixing the Construction Workforce Shortage: More funding for vocational training to boost the number of skilled workers and ease building costs.