The Trump administration recently proposed offering homebuyers the option to choose a 50-year term for their mortgage, which they said would be a “complete game changer” for homebuyers. Stretching out a mortgage almost twice as long, from the traditional 30-year to 50-year, would make payments lower, but would mean buyers that choose the longer term pay significantly more than if they had chosen a 30-year mortgage. Why is there now a push to offer longer-term mortgages, and if they are implemented, is it a good idea to take a longer term and lower monthly payments?
The housing affordability problem
The National Association of Realtors, which certainly has no reason to be pessimistic about the housing market, recently described the current market as “starved for affordable inventory.” First-time homebuyers now make up only 21% of all buyers, a record low, and the average age of first-time buyers is now 40. Those who would normally be buying homes now aren’t because they can’t afford to. This is a basic fact that just about everyone agrees on, but there is little agreement about how to solve the problem.
Proposing the 50-year mortgage is one of the Trump administration’s potential solutions to make houses more affordable. There is no disputing that a 50-year mortgage would do just that: assuming interest rates are the same, monthly payments on a 50-year mortgage would be about 12% less than with a 30-year mortgage. But that 12% savings does not come without some enormous costs.
The problems with a 50-year mortgage
50-year loans are riskier for banks and they would need to charge a higher interest rate in order to compensate for that extra risk. At best, a 50-year mortgage would have monthly payments of about 12% less than a 30-year mortgage. In reality, that difference will be significantly reduced due to a higher interest rate on a 50-year loan. We don’t know exactly what type of rates banks would offer on 50-year mortgages, but we can speculate based on the difference between 15-year and 30-year mortgages.
According to Mortgage News Daily, the average 30-year mortgage rate is 6.22% and the average 15-year rate is 5.78% as of December, 2025. If the average 50-year mortgage rate is 0.44% higher, like the 30-year rate compared to the 15-year rate, it would currently be 6.66%. At those rates, a 50-year mortgage payment would be just 6% less per month than a 30-year mortgage.
It is misleading to focus on the monthly payment as the total costs of a 50-year mortgage would be much higher than a 30-year. If someone finances $350,000 over 30-years at current interest rates, they would pay $773,348 over the life of their loan. If someone were to instead finance $350,000 over 50 years, at a rate 0.44% higher, they would pay $1,209,180 over the life of their loan. While they would pay 6% less per month, they would end up paying 56% more over the life of their loan, which in this example would be $435,832.
There’s another problem with 50-year mortgages: it’s likely most borrowers would die before their loan is paid off. The average age of first-time homebuyers is now 40, which would mean if they chose a 50-year mortgage they would be 90 years of age when their mortgage is paid off, assuming they never refinance. The average life expectancy in the US is 78.4 years.
One of the big benefits of home ownership, as opposed to renting, is that one day your mortgage is paid off and you no longer make monthly payments to the bank. For most borrowers, 50-year mortgages would be more like long-term renting at a fixed price than home ownership.
So are 50-year mortgages a good idea?
If 50-year mortgages were the only option consumers have, they would be a pretty good deal for those looking for long-term housing. Your rent would not increase every year, you would build equity in your home, and there’s a small chance that one day you may even pay off your mortgage. In a world where 30-year mortgages exist, though, there’s not really a need for 50-year mortgages. The monthly cost would only be about 6% lower, assuming slightly higher interest rates over the longer term, and the total cost would be much higher (about 56% more over the life of the loan).
If that 6% monthly savings would make the difference in you being able to afford a home, there are much better options to save 6% with a traditional 30-year mortgage. Putting more money down is one way to do it. Housing prices have been stagnant over the last few years and are even down a bit from 2022, so waiting a few more years to save a larger downpayment may not hurt you as much as it has in prior years when housing prices rose significantly. If you’d rather not wait, you can always buy 6% less house. Needless to say, a house 6% cheaper won’t be significantly different. Maybe you’ll have 0.5 less bathrooms, live a little closer to a highway, or have a kitchen that’s a little outdated.
Unfortunately for many Americans, houses may not be affordable right now. We love to see politicians propose solutions to help Americans achieve their dream of owning a home, but 50-year mortgages may do more harm than good. If you are in the market for a home, check out our homebuying calculator to see how much home you can afford based on your income, down payment, and interest rate.
