https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/11/business/fifty-year-mortgage
This is a really bad idea under the umbrella of "lower payments for you today."

Resolution criteria

This market resolves YES if 50-year mortgages are offered by a major U.S. lender or government-sponsored enterprise (Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, or equivalent) by December 31, 2028. Resolution requires evidence that such mortgages are actually available for borrowers to obtain, not merely proposed or under development. This includes mortgages offered as qualified mortgages under the Dodd-Frank Act or as non-QM products. The market resolves NO if no such offerings exist by the deadline.

Background

President Donald Trump recently floated the idea of a 50-year mortgage. Federal Housing Finance Agency director Bill Pulte, who oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, posted that they are "working on it," and that it would be, "a complete game-changer." Under the Dodd-Frank Act, passed after the 2008 housing crisis, loan terms cannot exceed 30 years. Changing the existing rules would require congressional approval and take up to a year to complete. It's possible that a 50-year mortgage could be offered by lenders as a non-QM mortgage, which typically comes with higher mortgage rates to balance out the risk.

Considerations

A 50-year mortgage isn't a new concept. It traces back to Southern California. In 2006, one expert told NBC News that the 50-year mortgage "may be the only way [buyers] can get into a home" because many had debt-to-income ratios that prevented them from qualifying for a 30-year mortgage. This suggests the product could technically be offered outside the qualified mortgage framework, though widespread adoption would require regulatory changes.