The True Purpose of Trump's "Housing and Not Speculation" Policy

In the past two days, Trump has been speaking out continuously on the US real estate issue:

On one hand, calling for restrictions on Wall Street capital continuing to acquire single-family homes, and on the other hand, proposing that the government buy about $200 billion worth of mortgage-backed securities (MBS) to lower mortgage rates.

Are investors familiar with this from China's real estate development over the past few years?
Isn't this just about housing and not speculation?

Trump is both suppressing housing prices and supporting the real estate market.

What he truly aims to prevent are three things:

Rapid decline in real estate → Deterioration of middle-class asset-liability balance sheets

Transaction freezes → Problems in local economies and community banks

"New highs in the stock market + falling home prices" → Strong political backlash affecting midterm elections

In the long run, the US has entered a "K-shaped growth" in the AI economy.
In the AI era, real estate has become an important social stabilizer.

For many ordinary families:
They can't benefit from AI dividends
Their stock holdings are limited
The only assets they can perceive and confirm as "not falling behind" are houses

Once home prices fall rapidly and transactions dry up, the psychological impact will far exceed the economic data itself.

This is also why Trump and America's elite classes definitely do not want real estate to spiral out of control downward, because it could further trigger social rifts (another trigger being employment).

Trump's "housing and not speculation" policy is very similar to Tsinghua University's "housing and not speculation."

Essentially, Trump's real estate policy is about risk control for midterm elections, stabilizing sentiment, and shaping narratives.

For Trump's midterm elections, whether the real estate policy is successful doesn't matter; what matters is:

Voters shouldn't "feel poorer" before voting
No regional or structural livelihood crises should occur
Narratively, stand on the side of "ordinary people against capital"

Understanding this point helps to see that Trump's "housing and not speculation" does not aim to restart or create a booming real estate market, but merely serves as a safety net.