Mortgage access starts with capital requirements

Housing affordability is already one of the biggest challenges facing American families.

High home prices and interest rates have pushed home sales to their lowest level in 30 years, according to Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies. For too many families, the path to homeownership is getting narrower.

Securing the capital before the keys

Mortgage financing is the pathway to homeownership for most homebuyers. According to the National Association of Realtors' 2025 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers data, roughly three-quarters of all home purchases involved financing.

In a housing market where affordability is already stretched, even small changes in credit availability can make a big difference. A slightly higher rate or a larger down payment requirement can be the difference in a borrower's ability to make an offer on a home.

Capital requirements help open the door to homeownership

When capital requirements become overly burdensome, they can make traditional lending activities more expensive and less attractive, pushing activity outside the regulated banking system.

Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman made this point clearly when discussing recent capital proposals:

• "An important benefit of these proposals is that they would reduce incentives for traditional lending activities—like mortgage origination, mortgage servicing, and lending to businesses—to migrate outside of the regulated banking sector."

A path forward

Housing is a complicated equation. Supply matters. Interest rates matter. Local policy matters. But capital matters, too.

As policymakers work to make more homes available to more families, the focus should remain on solutions that keep responsible lending in the regulated banking system, support access to mortgage credit, and ensure capital can continue flowing to homebuyers across the country.

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