Republicans Have a Winning Hand on Housing. Here's How to Play It.

For most Americans, owning a home is still the foundation for building wealth. It's what their parents worked toward, and what they hope their own kids get.  Despite this homebuying season pointing to potential price drops across markets, that dream is still slipping out of reach for a growing number of families, especially younger ones.

The numbers tell the story. A family earning the nation's median income of $106,800 still needs to use 32 percent of its income just to cover the mortgage payment on a median-priced home, and a low-income family needs 65 percent. Moreover, home prices have climbed 53 percent since 2019, while median income has risen only 24 percent. 

As a result, first-time buyers now make up just 21 percent of the market, down from 44 percent in 1981; and the median age of a first-time buyer has hit a record 40 years old, up from 29 just a generation ago.

Years of runaway inflation under the Biden-Harris administration sent mortgage rates and home prices soaring together, a brutal combination that destroyed affordability for millions of families. While housing affordability has edged up lately, there is still work to do to fully unwind that damage. That said, Republicans should applaud themselves for the administration’s real, substantive improvements on housing, and the party needs to talk about them clearly while heading into the midterms.

Start with the basics. Mortgage rates have fallen to a multi-year low, driving monthly housing payments to their most affordable level in over two years. In February 2026, the National Association of Realtors' Housing Affordability Index climbed to its highest point since March 2022. These are measurable, recent gains that Republicans should highlight plainly. 

Also, this past March, President Trump signed Executive Order 14394, "Removing Regulatory Barriers to Affordable Home Construction," which directs federal agencies to cut the permitting delays, layered environmental reviews, and zoning mandates that have made it slower and more expensive to build. The order pushes states and localities toward by-right development and denser zoning for single-family homes. This is the right instinct: the housing shortage is fundamentally a supply problem, and a part of the fix is fewer regulatory chokepoints.

A companion order signed that same day, Executive Order 14393, "Promoting Access to Mortgage Credit," is making it easier to get a mortgage through community banks. Taken together, these two orders point to a clear and coherent vision: build more, finance smarter, and let markets set the terms. These are the wins Republicans should be making the centerpiece of their housing message this cycle. Voters feel supply and mortgage costs directly, and the party should make sure they know who delivered relief on both.

At the same time, there’s other work being done quietly – which may not move the needle for general audiences, but the party should protect these successes. One example is keeping mortgage underwriting honest. When you apply for a mortgage, lenders must review credit reports from all three credit bureaus to evaluate your creditworthiness. This "tri-merge" standard exists so lenders have the full story. 

A recent study by Andrew Davidson and Co. analyzed credit data from 245 million consumers and found that 35 percent had at least one bureau score differing from the tri- merge average by 10 points or more. That’s a meaningful gap for borrowers in the middle of the credit spectrum – exactly the type of first-time and working-class buyers that conservatives are fighting for. 

Some mortgage industry voices have pushed to scrap this standard in favor of a single-bureau pull as an industry cost-saving measure, but voters disagree. A recent poll found that Americans, by and large, support reducing regulatory costs to increase housing supply and think that preserving tri-merge is part of that same affordability agenda. The Federal Housing Administration looked at this evidence and made the right call - announcing it will continue requiring tri-merge reports, saying the standard supports "consistent evaluation and prudent risk management."

This kind of decision is good governance, and Republicans need to keep making smart, favored choices like this one.

I applaud Republicans for their continued progress and for listening to voter concerns, but none of this means the job is finished. Affordability remains a real and pressing problem, and Republicans need to be vocal about everything they’re doing ahead of the midterms – cutting the red tape that blocks construction and maintaining a healthy housing market.

Paul Teller, President of Teller Strategies, was in the Trump-Pence White House for all four years and was chief of staff to Senator Ted Cruz.

Editor’s Note: Do you enjoy Townhall’s conservative reporting that takes on the radical Left and woke media? Support our work so that we can continue to bring you the truth.

Join Townhall VIP and use promo code FIGHT to receive 60% off your membership.