FILE - A "For Sale" sign outside a house in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025. Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Amid a slumping housing market, President Donald Trump over the weekend floated the idea of introducing a 50-year mortgage – and appears to have the support of the federal housing agency.

On Saturday, Trump posted on social media a meme introducing the idea of a 50-year mortgage, as President Franklin D. Roosevelt introduced the 30-year mortgage.

William Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, reposted the meme saying his agency was "indeed" working on a 50-year mortgage - calling it a game changer.

"We are also working on ways to give relief in the 5 year mortgage, the 10 year mortgage, and the 15 year mortgage," Pulte added in another post on X.

A 50-year mortgage would make affording a home more attainable for some Americans, as it would lower the monthly payment.

A longer mortgage means the homeowner has a longer time to spread out his or her repayment of the loan, in a process known as amortization. The process includes a fixed monthly payment in conjunction with the interest repayment.

Longer mortgages come with higher interest rates and repayments, meaning the homeowner would pay a higher total cost for the house over time than a homeowner with a shorter mortgage.

For a sample $400,000 loan with a 6% interest rate, a simple comparison using an amortization calculator shows you’d get a monthly mortgage payment of $2,398 under a 30-year loan, and $2,105 under a 50-year loan. Those numbers do not include taxes or insurance.

The interest paid under a 30-year loan calculates to $463,352, and calculates to nearly double that at $863,371 under a 50-year loan.