Real Estate

Trump Wants a Rate Cut to Boost Housing. It’s Not That Simple

Prospective buyers during an open house at a home in Seattle.

Photographer: David Ryder/Bloomberg

The homeownership rate in the US is at its lowest in more than five years, and affordability for first-time buyers remains about as bad as it’s been since the 1980s.

In President Donald Trump’s view, there’s one “numbskull” to blame: Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.