Giulia Carbonaro of Newsweek reports that President Trump is considering declaring a national housing emergency as soon as this fall to address the U.S. affordability crisis, according to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. The emergency declaration would target a market where home prices have skyrocketed more than 40% between 2019 and 2022, driven by pandemic-era mortgage rates as low as 2-3% that have since jumped to 6-7%, while the median U.S. home sale price reached $443,141 as of July 2025 (up 1.1% year-over-year).

Keith Griffith of Realtor.com reports that Bessent confirmed the Trump administration may declare a national housing emergency this fall. Home affordability is near a 40-year low, and nearly half of renter households spend more than 30% of their income on rent. The administration is exploring measures, including standardizing building codes nationally, decreasing closing costs, and utilizing federal land for affordable housing development. At the same time, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) notes the nation is short 4.7 million homes.

Jing Pan of Yahoo! News reports that Bessent’s warning about a potential national housing emergency this fall comes amid stark affordability metrics, with typical households needing to earn $118,530 annually to afford a median-priced home, a figure that’s 52% above today’s median household income of roughly $77,700. The administration is considering measures, including tariff exemptions on construction materials, standardizing local building codes, and reducing closing costs

Finally, Miranda Jeyaretnam of Time Magazine reports that under the 1976 National Emergencies Act, Trump could bypass Congress to utilize any of 137 emergency powers defined by law if he declares a housing emergency, following his pattern of already declaring nine national emergencies in his second term to impose sweeping tariffs and give military oversight to immigration enforcement. While Bessent declined to specify exact actions under consideration, the administration is studying ways to standardize local building and zoning codes nationally, reduce closing costs, and potentially offer tariff exemptions on construction materials. The administration could also leverage Trump’s campaign promises to make federal land available for housing development and slash regulations.

Jobs report

Danielle Hale of Realtor.com reports that August’s dismal jobs report showed only 22,000 new jobs added compared to the 12-month average of 128,000, pushing unemployment up to 4.3% from July’s 4.2% while earnings growth slowed to 3.7%. Job openings dropped to 7.2 million at a 4.3% rate, matching post-pandemic lows, with unemployed job seekers exceeding available openings for the first time since April 2021, signaling weaker conditions parallel the housing market’s current struggles with affordability and reduced buyer demand.

Source: Realtor.com (September 2025)

The Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Chief Economist Mike Fratantoni comments on the employment conditions report from August:

“The job market is softening, with even sectors like health care, which had steadily contributed to job growth, now slowing. Job losses continued in the federal government and manufacturing sectors. Wage growth at 3.7% over the past year is steady, but it is certainly running at a slower pace than a year ago. While the headline unemployment rate increased to 4.3%, what was more notable was the larger increase in the U-6 to 8.1%, with more workers only able to find part-time work or becoming discouraged by the lack of job openings, and the continued increase in the length of unemployment spells.”

Jing Fu of the National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB) reports that construction employment declined by 7,000 jobs in August, marking the third consecutive month of losses with residential construction shedding 6,100 positions and non-residential down 1,200 jobs. The sector’s six-month moving average shows losses of 4,783 jobs per month, contributing to a net decline of 26,100 jobs over the past 12 months; the fourth annual decline since September 2020. Residential construction employment now stands at 3.3 million workers (954,000 builders and 2.4 million specialty trade contractors), while the construction unemployment rate rose to 3.9% on a seasonally adjusted basis.

Source: NAHB (September 2025)

Logan Mohtashami of HousingWire reports that this jobs report drove the 10-year yield down toward 4.08%, sending mortgage rates to new yearly lows as the Federal Reserve’s claims that the labor market was solid and recent softness was due to population growth proved incorrect. Mohtashami comments that the Fed missed the mark by being too late to react to changing labor conditions. The jobs data confirmed that skeptics were right about the weakening job market not being attributed to population growth, as the central bank had maintained for months.

Housing vulnerability

Megan Hunt reports that ATTOM’s Q2 2025 Housing Risk Report identifies the most vulnerable county-level housing markets. California leads among the 50 highest-risk areas with 14 counties, followed by Florida (7), New Jersey (5), and Louisiana (4). The analysis reveals that in 19% of the 579 counties studied, homeowners need at least half their annual wages for housing costs, while 63% require at least one-third of their annual income for housing expenses. The following markets made the top 10 list:

1. Charlotte County, Florida
2. Humboldt County, California
3. Shasta County, California
4. Butte County, California
5. Cumberland County, New Jersey
6. Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana
7. Madera County, California
8. El Dorado County, California
9. Riverside County, California
10. Livingston Parish, Louisiana

Jonathan Delozier of HousingWire reports that Moody’s chief economist Mark Zandi warns the economy is “on the precipice of recession” by late 2025, with housing markets particularly vulnerable as job growth has slowed to a “virtual standstill” and construction faces a deepening slowdown. Zandi describes housing as “very troubled,” noting that single-family homebuilding incentives are “no longer working” and inventories of unsold homes have reached levels as high as before the global financial crisis.

Dana Anderson of Redin reports that investor home purchases dropped 6% in the second quarter to roughly 52,000 homes, the lowest springtime level since 2020 and the biggest decline since late 2023. Condo purchases fell 13% year-over-year due to high borrowing costs and economic uncertainty. Investor capital gains have shrunk dramatically to just 1.7% growth compared to over 30% in early 2021, while the share of homes sold at a loss increased from 5% to 7%, signaling reduced profitability as asking rents decline from their peak and short-term rental markets cool amid tightened regulations. Redfin Senior Economist Sheharyar Bokhari comments:

Source: Redfin (September 2025)

“For real estate investors, the numbers just don’t pencil out the way they did a few years ago, whether they’re looking to flip a home or rent it out…It costs a lot to buy a home, and potential returns are simultaneously softening. That doesn’t mean investors are disappearing–they’re still buying nearly one in five homes in the country–but they’re being choosier about their home purchases, just like individual homebuyers.”