The year 2016 has witnessed the United States Presidential Election race. Each candidate comes up with their own agendas and ideas for every aspect of the country’s political, economical and social factors. In January 2017, Donald Trump assumed office of the President of the United State of America ending an era where his predecessor, Barrack Obama, has helped shape the housing market as we see it today. Real estate investing without a doubt witnessed a significant boom during the Obama administration because of legislation that helped low-income owners with mortgages.
Related: How Donald Trump’s Presidency Will Affect Real Estate Investing
The Trump administration is proving in the short time of its office, that they are going to have a different approach for the housing market. The truth is that real estate investing has become more expensive since Trump became president. New policies adopted by Trump have made borrowing more expensive for homebuyers and labor costs to become more expensive for homebuilders.
One of the first acts of the Trump administration was to reverse an executive order executed by the Obama Administration. The order states that borrowers would get a reduction on their mortgage insurance premiums by 0.25% of total amount borrowed. Trump moved swiftly to to suspend the reduction on mortgage insurance premiums for Federal Housing Administration loans. The order was met with mixed opinions, while some say that the order aims at taking money from low-income homeowners; others argue that the Federal Housing Administration insured loans would be there to protect taxpayers in case of another housing market crash.
What does this mean for you when it comes to real estate investing? The order not coming into effect yet means that people who already have mortgages will not be affected by the suspension of the Federal Housing Administration reduction. For potential buyers, suspending the Federal Housing Administration rate reductions will put them in a more vulnerable spot. The rise in mortgage fees they need to pay will make eliminate them from competition of real estate investing. The 0.25% might seem little at first but when you accumulate it annually, it makes the difference for new investors between being able to make profit or not from their investment. For example, if the mortgage is around $200,000 then this means that 0.25% of that or $500 will have been lost under Trump’s new policies.
Related: How to Buy a Rental Property Using Mashvisor
It is becoming clearer every day is that the Trump administration is an unpredictable one regarding tax reforms and regulating finances. Mortgage rates are expected to be on the rise throughout 2017 but because of Trump’s unknown taxation agenda it is difficult to be sure that the mortgage rates won’t be unpredictable as well. New policies from Trump could eventually trigger the mortgage rates to decline and open up the real estate investing door again
The good news for investors who are not dependent on mortgages is that it is highly predictable that house prices will continue to hike up during the Trump administration. Trump has promised to come up with policies that will allow borrowers more freedom when applying for loans and mortgages from banks.
Trump’s administration has strictly vowed to reevaluate the Dodd-Frank Act, which was passed by Congress after the 2008 housing market crash. Trump wants to change some parts of the Dodd-Frank act to make it looser in terms of regulation on banks. Loose regulations means it will allow banks to lend more to people, hence increasing possibilities of real estate investing.
Related: How to Recession Proof an Investment Property
The real estate investing market is facing a dramatic change in fortunes right now because of the change of regimes in the US government. There are some conclusions to be made after analyzing Trump and his administration’s stance on housing in all its aspects. With the uncertainty at the moment, it is only natural that investors have their doubts when it comes to mortgage rates, property prices and demand. The indication that property prices will remain on the rise is good news for existing investors and anyone who plans to purchase property now, rent it and sell it later down the years. Mortgage rates are the uncertain part of the Trump administration right now, it is unclear how its situation will develop, but judging by a shaky two months it should become more stable once the political situation has settled down a bit.