Dave Ramsey Offers Trump a $2 Million Plan To Jump-Start the Housing Market, in Case He’s ‘Listening’

The housing market is “clogged,” according to financial expert Dave Ramsey—and honestly, that might be an understatement. 

But there is hope on the horizon. For one thing, according to the Realtor.com® 2026 housing forecast, existing-home sales should climb about 1.7% to 4.13 million this year—a small but meaningful gain from 2025’s near 30-year low. At the same time, for-sale inventory will continue to recover, up nearly 9% year over year.

Simultaneously, there have been continued discussions at every level of government to find solutions to free up inventory—from state level-initiatives all the way up to President Trump.

On a recent episode of his podcast, Ramsey mentions the president’s ideas to shore up more housing availability and questions whether Trump might actually be listening to the show for ideas, offering him another suggestion, just in case he is. 

The key to unlock housing inventory

In a clip shared on his Instagram, titled “President Trump: If You’re Listening,” Ramsey discusses the state of the housing-inventory shortage.

He concedes that this is nothing new, with existing-home listings being lackluster for the better part of the past two decades, but notes there are two strategies he feels will immediately help “loosen” up inventory. 

“First, prohibit the institutional corporate hedge funds and Chinese from buying blocks and blocks and thousands and thousands of single-family homes and taking them off the market and making them permanent rentals,” Ramsey says in the clip. 

If the idea sounds familiar, it might be that you’re a longtime listener of Ramsey, who has been floating this idea for years. At the same time, you may also have heard President Trump put forth an executive order saying the same in January. 

“To preserve the supply of single-family homes for American families and increase the paths to homeownership, it is the policy of my Administration that large institutional investors should not buy single-family homes that could otherwise be purchased by families,” the order read in part, via the White House website. 

When Ramsey’s co-host points this out, Ramsey’s response is simple: “I'm happy for it to be his idea, as long as it happens.”

Turns out, it might not. Conflict has emerged between the White House and Congress regarding the housing initiative championed by the president as some lawmakers fear it will derail the Housing for the 21st Century Act, a bipartisan bill that’s being championed not only on both sides of the aisle, but by Wall Street and homebuilders alike. 

The legislation passed through the House on Feb. 9 by a vote of 390-9. The bill now moves to the Senate, where lawmakers can consider adding Trump’s investor ban as an amendment.

A $2 million idea

If the amendment doesn’t pan out, Ramsey has another suggestion that’s been floating around Washington, as well: increasing capital gains exemptions on personal residency.

Last year, former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) pitched the No Tax on Home Sales Act, which would've eliminated capital gains taxes on the sale of primary residences. It was a proposal President Trump said he’d consider, but with Greene’s exit from government, it hasn’t come up again. 

While zero capital gains on personal residency would be helpful, Ramsey concedes that by just upping the exclusion rate from $500,000, if married and filing jointly, to $2 million for capital gains, would move the market “wide open.”

“A bunch of boomers who are sitting on a bunch of equity would sell. If you could put $2 million in your pocket and move wherever, they would do it,” Ramsey says. 

Here’s right about the equity; today, roughly 1 in 3 homeowners—nearly 29 million households—have built up more home equity than the federal capital gains tax exclusion for single filers protects when they sell their primary home, according to a recent analysis by the National Association of Realtors®. By 2030, that number is expected to grow to 56% of homeowners.

Though Trump has not weighed in on capital gains adjustments since last summer, Rep. Craig Goldman (R-Texas) introduced legislation in January, dubbed the Don’t Tax the American Dream Act, that picked up where Greene left off. 

“Americans are overtaxed. The Don’t Tax the American Dream Act repeals costly capital gains taxes on home sales so that Americans keep more of their hard-earned money,” Goldman said in a written statement. “Repealing these taxes will unleash the housing market and help restore the American Dream of homeownership.”