Homebuilders call baseless price-fixing claims as DOJ ‘considers launching antitrust investigation’

Leading groups representing homebuilders have responded to a report that the Trump administration is considering an antitrust probe into the industry, saying any allegations of price-fixing are baseless.

The Justice Department is considering launching an antitrust probe into homebuilders in the coming weeks, though no final decision has been made and the administration could drop the effort, sources familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.

The probe may focus on an association of major publicly traded homebuilders, Leading Builders of America, amid concerns that the group could be used to restrict housing supply or coordinate prices, the report said.

CEO of Leading Builders of America Ken Gear tells Realtor.com® that the group has not been contacted by the DOJ about a possible investigation and says the association is focused solely on policy issues.

“It is the policy of Leading Builders of America (“LBA”) to conduct its meetings and operations in strict compliance with federal and state antitrust laws. Our sole focus is on public policy issues affecting the homebuilding industry,” Gear said in a statement.

“We have not been contacted by any government officials about this rumored investigation. We will continue to work with policymakers at all levels of government to help solve our nation’s housing affordability crisis,” Gear added.

The National Association of Home Builders, the nation’s largest trade association of home builders, was not named as a potential target of the investigation, but NAHB President Buddy Hughes calls into question the factual basis of any claims of collusion.

Hughes notes that there are more than 77,000 home builders operating across the country, the vast majority of which are small businesses averaging 10 or fewer homes per year.

“The housing market is struggling because of greater economic pressures on consumers. As a result, homebuilders are cutting prices,” he tells Realtor.com.

New home prices have been on a downward trend since the end of 2022 and as a result new homes are now cheaper than existing homes, reversing long-standing trends.

In a recent NAHB survey, 40 percent of builders reported price reductions in January and 65 percent used sales incentives such as mortgage buybacks or closing cost assistance, Hughes notes.

“The key to making homes more affordable is to increase housing supply,” says Hughes. “That will require the government to work with housebuilders, not against them.”

The White House referred a request for comment on the potential investigation to the DOJ, which declined to comment when contacted by Realtor.com.

The reported review of an antitrust investigation into homebuilders follows a flurry of housing affordability proposals from the Trump administration, few of which have advanced so far.

Among the ideas floated by the administration and later apparently scrapped were 50-year mortgages and penalty-free early withdrawal from 401(k) accounts to fund a down payment.

More recently, Bloomberg reported that some homebuilders are considering a plan to build entry-level “Trump Homes” using a rent-to-own model, though administration officials have said they are not actively considering the plan.

chairman Donald Trump has made remarks about housing affordability that are sometimes contradictory, promising “aggressive” housing reform this year but more recently promising to raise house prices to benefit current homeowners.

Such conflicting messages have sometimes made it difficult to gauge whether the administration views homebuilders as an ally or a scapegoat in the housing crisis.

In October, Trump singled out homebuilders in a Social Truth post comparing them to the OPEC cartel of oil-producing nations, suggesting without evidence that builders collude to drive up prices.

“They are my friends and are very important to the SUCCESS of our Country, but now they can get financing and they need to start building Homes. They are sitting on 2 million empty lots, A RECORD,” Trump wrote. “I’m asking Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to get the Big Homebuilders up and running and in doing so help restore the American Dream!”

In fact, the supply of new homes for sale remains near an 18-year high as builders struggled to turn over inventory despite price cuts and incentives.

“What we’re really seeing among builders is a desire to sell,” says Realtor.com’s senior economist Joel Berner. “Rebates and buyer incentives are rampant in the new home market, and builders seem to be really competing for a smaller pool of buyers, not conspiring against them.”

Realtor.com’s economic research team has estimated that the country has a housing shortage of nearly 4 million units and says closing this supply gap is the best way to improve affordability.

“Adding supply is the only long-term solution to the housing crisis, so the administration would do better to support builders than antagonize them,” says Berner.