All eyes are finally on housing affordability. As Victoria DeLuce, senior vice president of home equity lending at Rate and a speaker at HousingWire’s Housing Economic Summit, states in a recent interview, the Trump administration is paying attention to the affordability crisis and the industry is also ready to step in to address it.

DeLuce will join John Toohig, head of whole loan trading at Raymond James, on stage at the Housing Economic Summit to discuss housing opportunities and risks through the lens of capital markets. 

Below is a preview of how DeLuce is approaching the year ahead. HousingWire will dive further into it at the summit in Dallas on Feb. 10. 

HousingWire: What do you think will define the 2026 housing market for housing leaders? 

Victoria DeLuce: Government involvement in the housing industry. Outside of the financial crisis and pandemic, each administration always finds something “more important” to focus on.

Housing and housing finance can be hot-button issues to discuss on the campaign trail, but no real change or solutions ever really arise once candidates are elected to office. Setting political views aside, this administration appears to want to make changes to help fight the affordability crisis we’ve been facing for years.

Taking mortgage interest rates out of the Fed’s hands by having the GSEs purchase MBS is one way to go about it. Talks of limiting institutional buyers of investment properties is another. I think this administration has more up their sleeve.

HW: What are a couple housing data points or trends that you’re closely watching now and into next year that you’d want to highlight, and why? 

VD: As the head of home equity at Rate, the overall equity market and consumer debt are two large focuses of mine.

2026

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HW: What are the biggest threats and opportunities for addressing affordable housing?

VD: If we do nothing, the gap between the haves and have-nots will continue to increase, ultimately hurting the overall economy. Continuing to remove barriers of entry to homeownership for first-time homeowners through products and government involvement will be key. This isn’t just a mortgage industry problem.

Don’t settle for only the data. Learn how to harness it to make better and faster decisions. Find the signal at the Housing Economic Summit. Join us in Dallas on Feb. 10.

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