In his State of the Union address, President Trump reiterated his goal to make home ownership more affordable so that more Americans can live out the American dream with a place to call their own. During the address, the President said, "Another pillar of the American dream that has been under attack has been home ownership," before introducing Rachel Wiggins, who placed bids on 20 homes and has yet to purchase one. "Stories like this are why last month I signed executive order to ban large Wall Street investment firms are buying up in the thousands single family homes. And now I’m asking Congress to make that ban permanent, because homes for people, really that’s what we want, we want homes for people, not for corporations."
The President also touted a decrease in mortgage costs, telling Congress, "And the annual cost of a typical new mortgage is down almost $5,000 just since I took office, one year. And lower interest rates will solve the Biden-created housing problem, while at the same time protecting the values of those people who already own a house that really feel rich for the first time in their lives. We want to protect those values. We want to keep those values up. We’re going to do both — and keep it that way."
Rocket Mortgage recently acquired the Mr. Cooper Group, making it the nation's largest mortgage servicer and positioning it to help President Trump's vision for homeownership become a reality.
Today, Rocket Mortgage held an earnings call and made a major announcement about its initiative to "make housing more affordable in America: Rocket Mortgage will be partnering with Compass, bringing together two major real estate companies to make home buying more affordable and accessible for Americans. This partnership will allow Compass, one of the largest residential brokerages in the United States, to display its listings on Rocket's Redfin home-buying platform, expanding buyers' choices and increasing sellers' exposure. This will make home selling and home buying easier over modern digital platforms, and these partnerships will make homeownership more accessible.
Rocket and Compass team up in challenge to Zillow’s grip on housing
— Lance Lambert (@NewsLambert) February 26, 2026
Rocket Companies—which now also owns Redfin + Mr. Cooper—announced today a new partnership w/ Compass
"Compass International Holdings' 'Coming Soon' listings will appear immediately on Redfin, with 'Private… pic.twitter.com/afpLqcMXMB
“When barriers are removed and supply grows, affordability improves,” said Varun Krishna, CEO of Rocket Companies. “Today’s challenge is friction in the homebuying process and a lack of inventory. By bringing search, agents and financing into one connected platform, we can help more sellers enter the market, reduce complexity for buyers and make homeownership more attainable.”
“We believe listing agents should be connected directly with interested buyers, and sellers should have the freedom to list their homes in the manner and method they choose without fear of misleading insights that damage its value,” said Robert Reffkin, Chairman and CEO of Compass International Holdings. “Now, our real estate professionals can give sellers the choices they deserve, with increased exposure to 60 million potential buyers.”
While mortgage rates are at their lowest point since 2022, at 6.01 percent, they remain elevated compared to 2020-2021 lows, and affordability is near multi-decade lows when measured by price-to-income and payment-to-income ratios. The Rocket Mortgage/Compass partnership does not change housing supply constraints, but it may lower effective first-year payments, reduce closing cost friction, and stimulate transaction activity at the margin. Housing remains a "very importing" issue to half of all surveyed voters, according to Rassmussen, and 54 percent of voters agree that too much government regulation is impeding housing construction. Majorities also say that lowering costs requires cutting red tape (65 percent) and 77 percent support opening lending regulations to make it easier for home buyers to get loans.
With the Federal Reserve failing to cut interest rates, this announcement is an example of how the private sector is stepping up to deliver on President Trump's call to restore housing affordability.
The White House can call for lower rates and fewer corporate buyers, but restoring the American dream of homeownership will ultimately require action beyond speeches. With supply constrained, regulations heavy, and affordability a concern, meaningful progress will come from a combination of policy reform and private-sector innovation. Rocket’s partnership with Compass doesn’t solve the housing shortage overnight — but it signals that major players in the market are responding to the demand for a faster, simpler, and more accessible path to ownership. If Washington clears the runway and the private sector continues to build tools to reduce friction, the promise of homeownership may yet move from aspiration back to reality for millions of Americans.