MOVE Act takes aim at mortgage lock-in
The Close walks through what H.R. 10028 would require of Fannie and Freddie — and the large operational holes the two-page bill leaves open.
U.S. housing finance · August 2026
If you advise clients who will not list because they hold a 3% note, this is the policy fight to watch. A portable mortgage would let the owner carry rate, remaining balance, and remaining term to the next house. The MOVE Act would push Fannie and Freddie to buy those loans. It is a proposal. It is not something a broker can lock today.
The idea
Most U.S. conventional mortgages die when the home is sold. That is why millions of owners with 3% and 4% notes will not list. A portable mortgage would detach the note from the old house and reattach it to the next one — after a new appraisal, title work, and underwriting.
Canada and the U.K. already use versions of this. The U.S. 30-year fixed, securitized market does not. That gap is the whole policy fight.
Lock-in snapshot
Federal mortgage data for Q1 2026 put that share at 49.9%. Those owners face a payment jump if they sell and rebuy at mid-6% to near-7% rates. Portability is being sold as a way to unstick that inventory — without rewriting every existing contract.
What would move
A 3.1% note stays 3.1% on the next property. That is the feature owners actually want.
Only the unpaid principal moves. It does not reset or grow. A larger purchase needs cash or a second lien at market rates.
22 years left stays 22 years. It is not a fresh 30-year clock unless a new loan is layered on top.
The MOVE Act draft also sets a 90-day window after the sale of the original home. Miss that window and the transfer, as written, does not happen.
Recent coverage
The Close walks through what H.R. 10028 would require of Fannie and Freddie — and the large operational holes the two-page bill leaves open.
National Mortgage News and American Banker cover the introduction and note FHFA Director Bill Pulte has separately said the agency is “actively evaluating” portability.
H.R. 7754, the Take Your Rate Act, only orders HUD and FHFA to study portable federally backed mortgages. The MOVE Act skips the study and writes a purchase mandate.
Do not list, shop, or budget as if you can port a 2021 rate next month. Existing conventional notes generally are not portable, and the bill does not rewrite them. If you need to move now, run the real payment math at today’s rates.
If a secondary-market path appears, originators will need transfer ops, gap-financing products, and new investor overlays. This site is built to collect that conversation early — not to advertise a loan that does not exist.