Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner says government regulation is responsible for a significant chunk of what Americans pay for a home — about $100,000 of the current median price tag, which tops $400,000.
Speaking on The Clay & Buck Show on August 20, Turner laid out the math: “The median price of a home in America today is over $400,000. $100,000 of that is in regulations alone.” That means roughly a fourth of the cost of the typical U.S. home is tied to red tape, according to the HUD secretary.
Turner, who has been touring the country to press local officials on barriers to construction, said the administration is working to strip away rules that inflate building costs. “As we’ve been traveling, we’ve been asking localities [and] mayors, ‘Hey, take inventory of your regulatory environment. What’s crippling people so they cannot build? Why is development not happening? Why is construction so high?'” he said. “And so, as we do that, we also are tearing down green energy mandates.”
Turner argued that lowering the cost of construction would ripple through the market, making homes more affordable for younger buyers. “So when you take down the regulatory environment, you bring down the cost of build, which is passed on to the 20-, 30-, 40-year-olds,” he said. “The price to build is lower, so that means the price to buy is lower, and the supply goes up.” He said that effort is being coordinated with President Trump.
Host Clay Travis reacted to the $100,000 figure with “That’s crazy,” and Turner agreed.
The comments come as housing affordability remains a top political issue. Home prices surged during the Biden administration and have not eased under Trump, according to the PJ Media report. Turner is hoping to reverse that trend through a mix of deregulation and building incentives.
Turner’s framing echoes a long-running conservative critique that environmental rules — often justified by climate concerns — have slowed construction dramatically. The article notes that landmarks like the Empire State Building and Disneyland were built in about a year, while permits and paperwork for a single building can now take years.
There is some promising news for buyers, at least on the new-home front. According to Fortune, it is now on average cheaper to buy a newly built home than a resale — a shift that may reflect efforts to spur construction even as existing homeowners hold out for higher prices.
Still, Turner faces a steep climb. Rolling back decades of accumulated regulations is a slow process, and the article suggests additional steps could help, such as barring foreign buyers — particularly Chinese nationals — from purchasing American homes and farmland.
Property ownership has long been central to the American dream, the piece argues, but government rules have made that dream harder to reach. Turner is betting that cutting red tape is the fastest way to bring it back within reach.
Source: pjmedia.com — https://pjmedia.com/catherinesalgado/2026/08/22/housing-secretary-says-a-fourth-of-us-homes-cost-is-pure-red-tape-n4956417
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