Mortgage Payments Down About $260 Under Trump: Report-l
CNN reported Friday that the average monthly mortgage payment has fallen by roughly $260 since President Donald Trump took office a year ago. The network, which is typically critical of Trump and his policies, highlighted the shift during a business segment examining housing affordability.
CNN business reporter Matt Egan compared the monthly payment for a buyer who purchased a $500,000 home with a 20 percent down payment in January 2025 to the cost today.
In January 2025, the monthly payment was $2,672, compared with $2,414 now, a difference of about $260.
Egan noted that over the course of a year, the decline translates to roughly $3,000 less in interest payments.
Over the life of a typical mortgage, the savings amount to approximately $90,000, he said.
“That’s huge. That’s less money going to the bank, and more for everything else,” Egan said.
Egan pointed to Trump’s recent announcement that the federal government would have Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac purchase roughly $200 billion in home mortgages as one factor putting downward pressure on rates.
The government-sponsored entities buy loans from lenders, package them into mortgage-backed securities, and sell them to investors, replenishing lender funds and helping keep interest rates lower for borrowers.
Inflation has also cooled under Trump, with the Consumer Price Index rising 2.6 percent last month.
Lower inflation has given the Federal Reserve room to cut the rate it charges banks, which influences the prime lending rate passed on to consumers.
Beyond interest rates, home prices have also declined over the past year, coinciding with the Trump administration’s removal of millions of illegal immigrants from the country.
The White House said in a social media post that home list prices declined year over year in 14 of the 20 metro areas with the largest illegal migrant populations.
The statement added that the three metro areas that saw modest price increases were all sanctuary cities.
Several of the sharpest price declines occurred in border states including Texas, Arizona, and California.
Realtor.com reported the steepest year-over-year home price drops in Tampa, Phoenix, Dallas, Miami, and San Diego.
The largest price increases were recorded in Minneapolis, Cleveland, Boston, New York City, and Chicago.
President Trump said in December that Americans will see lower prescription drug prices following agreements reached between his administration and nine major pharmaceutical companies. Trump announced the deals during an event at the White House attended by executives from what he described as nine of the world’s largest drug manufacturers.
He said the companies agreed to offer several flagship medications to U.S. consumers at discounted “most favored nation” prices, Mediaite reported.
Trump said the pricing model would match the lowest price paid for the same drugs anywhere in the world. “In other words, whatever the drug sells for in the world, whatever the lowest number is, we will match that price,” said the president on Friday.
He said Americans have been paying prices that are sometimes ten times higher than those charged in other countries. Trump added that the administration has announced similar price reductions in recent months, including for weight loss drugs such as Ozempic. He said the newly discounted drugs include treatments for diabetes, asthma and blood thinning.
Trump said negotiations with the pharmaceutical companies were difficult but said the companies acknowledged their pricing practices were unfair.
Bloomberg reported that the administration reached the agreements in exchange for a three-year reprieve from potential tariffs on pharmaceutical products.
The White House did not immediately provide details on how the pricing changes would be implemented or when consumers would see the reductions.
Trump said Americans have effectively been subsidizing lower drug prices in other countries for years. “We are not doing it anymore,” Trump said.
Rep. Ilhan Omar Intensifies Criticism of Federal Immigration Enforcement
Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota sharply escalated her criticism of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement operations on Monday, accusing federal agents of treating Minneapolis as an occupying force and again calling for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s resignation or impeachment.
In remarks to constituents in Minneapolis, Omar repeatedly described the presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other federal officers in the city as an inappropriate use of government authority, saying the situation has created fear among local residents. Omar said Minneapolis is “currently under occupation” and cited concerns about schools, hospitals and daily life as evidence of what she called harmful federal intervention.
“We do not exaggerate when we say we have schools where two-thirds of the students are afraid to go to school,” Omar said. “We do not exaggerate when we say we have people who are afraid to go to the hospital because our hospitals have occupying paramilitary forces.”
Omar referenced two recent fatalities during federal immigration operations in Minneapolis — the deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Good — and argued those incidents underscored the need for new leadership at DHS. In her remarks, she blamed senior White House advisers for shaping the administration’s immigration policies.
“When we say it is time for Kristi Noem to go, we mean it now,” Omar added. “And there needs to be accountability for the architect of the terror we are facing in Minneapolis and so many other cities, which is Stephen Miller.”
Omar’s comments follow an appearance on MSNBC’s All In with Chris Hayes, where she reiterated those positions and broadened her critique to include senior administration officials. In that interview, she said Noem should resign or face impeachment, echoing earlier statements from House Democratic leadership. Omar also repeated criticism of Miller, a senior White House adviser on immigration policy, calling him a “copycat of the Nazis” and suggesting he should be prosecuted.
Her remarks also tied national Republican rhetoric on immigration to broader social tensions, asserting that aggressive enforcement language has “created anger” that can lead to confrontations with Somali immigrants and other community members in Minnesota.
Omar’s public criticism comes amid the ongoing federal immigration operation known as Operation Metro Surge. Federal agents have been deployed to Minneapolis to apprehend illegal immigrants with criminal convictions, drawing protests and heightened scrutiny from local officials and advocacy groups.
Democratic lawmakers, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), have called for increased oversight of DHS and ICE policies as part of broader negotiations over long-term funding for the Department of Homeland Security. Jeffries has publicly stated that Noem should be impeached if she does not resign, and Schumer has called for additional conditions on immigration enforcement in appropriations legislation.
In response to increased political pressure, DHS has taken steps to increase transparency in its operations. Earlier this week, Secretary Kristi Noem announced that body-worn cameras will be issued to all federal immigration enforcement officers deployed in Minneapolis as an immediate measure, with plans to expand the program nationwide as funding becomes available. “Effective immediately we are deploying body cameras to every officer in the field in Minneapolis,” Noem wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
Federal officials have said that some Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers present during the Jan. 24 shooting of Pretti were already equipped with body cameras, though full footage has not been released. Officials have not yet clarified whether ICE officers were wearing cameras during the earlier fatal encounter involving Good.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz responded to Noem’s announcement by saying body cameras should have been in place prior to the deaths of Pretti and Good, who were tragically killed while interfering with ICE law enforcement operations.
