Bessent says Trump administration will tackle high housing costs with new measures

By Jeff Mason and Andrea Shalal

ARLINGTON, Virginia (Reuters) -President Donald Trump's administration plans new measures to tackle the high cost of housing in the coming weeks, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Reuters in an interview on Monday.

Emphasizing the urgency of the situation, Bessent described it as an "all hands on deck" challenge.

Bessent told the Washington Examiner in a separate interview that Trump may declare a national housing emergency this fall to address rising prices and dwindling supply.

The housing market has been hardest hit by the U.S. central bank's tight monetary policy stance and high housing costs are a top concern for many Americans.

The Treasury secretary told Reuters rents were now dropping, which was important for Americans who do not own their homes.

He said he was expecting an increase in real estate transactions and home sales once interest rates began falling, which could encourage people who were locked into low mortgages to put their existing homes on the market.

Bessent said the Trump administration was also exploring ways to simplify permitting and encourage standardization to boost construction, which would boost housing supply and help to bring high costs down.

Affordability would be a big focus for the administration, Bessent said, noting Trump's push to drive down prescription prices.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal, Jeff Mason and Jasper Ward; Editing by Scott Malone, Ross Colvin and Edmund Klamann)

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