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President Donald Trump briefly mentioned his housing policies in his speech at Davos.Mandel NGAN / AFP via Getty ImagesPresident Donald Trump briefly addressed high housing costs and interest rates in his Davos speech.Trump said the goal of homeownership has fallen out of reach for millions of people under Biden.Trump didn't share new details on his housing plans, including using a 401(k) for a down payment.After making his case to acquire Greenland, President Donald Trump celebrated his own achievements and elaborated briefly on his plans to address the high cost of housing in the US during his hourlong speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday."Homeownership has always been a symbol of health and vigor of American society, but that goal fell out of reach for millions and millions of people in the Biden era because interest rates went up so high," Trump said. "Today, I'm taking action to bring back this bedrock of the American dream."The Trump administration's proposals have included banning "large institutional investors" from buying single-family homes, purchasing $200 billion of mortgage debt to reduce mortgage interest rates, introducing 50-year mortgages and portable home loans, and allowing homebuyers to use their 401(k)s to make a down payment."In 2024, the US built less than two million new homes," Trump said, adding that Biden admitted eight million new migrants. "Those days are over."But industry watchers and housing policy researchers say the fundamental driver of high housing costs is a shortage of homes — and there isn't a quick fix. Building enough housing to accommodate demand in markets across the US will take many years and require significant action on the state and local levels.Cracking down on major investors and lowering mortgage ratesTrump signed an executive order on Tuesday cracking down on major investors in homes and asked Congress to pass legislation banning "large institutional investors" from buying houses."Homes are built for people, not for corporations, and America will not become a nation of renters," Trump said in Davos.Major investors, including hedge funds and private equity firms, own hundreds of thousands of single-family homes around the US, which has raised concerns that Wall Street-backed groups are outcompeting individual homebuyers, especially first-time buyers, and driving up home prices.But these mega landlords own only about 2% of the single-family rental housing stock, according to a 2024 analysis by the GAO. And since 2022, they've slowed their purchasing as interest rates have spiked and home prices have remained high. The evidence isn't particularly strong that big investors charge more than smaller landlords, or that they outcompete other buyers.Jenny Schuetz, vice president of housing at Arnold Ventures, previously told Business Insider that the lack of homes in markets across the country is "number one, two, and three on the list of problems." She called a potential ban "a red herring" that "distracts attention from things that actually could be helpful in improving affordability and increasing supply."In Truth Social posts earlier this month, Trump announced that he had ordered Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to buy up to $200 billion in mortgage-backed bonds to drive down mortgage interest rates. Mortgage rates have since fallen. But industry experts said the impact of the move would likely be somewhat short-term and overshadowed by the ongoing housing shortage and moves by the Federal Reserve.Using a 401(k) for a down paymentTrump didn't provide further details on a plan at Davos, which was teased last week, that would enable Americans to pull from their 401(k)s to make a down payment on a home.The proposal was first announced by Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, on Fox Business last week. "Suppose that you…

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