
Trump’s Big Housing Market Solution Is Dead on Arrival, UBS Says-Its model Is Texas from 25 Years Ago
The quest to solve America’s persistent housing affordability crisis has become the focal point of modern political discourse. Recently, proposals echoing policies from 1990s Texas have gained traction as a potential “silver bullet” to lower costs and boost supply. However, financial analysts at UBS have thrown considerable cold water on these ideas, suggesting that such regulatory frameworks are “dead on arrival” in the current economic climate. In this deep dive, we explore why this model may fail to address the complexities of today’s real estate market.
The Core of the Proposal: The Texas Model Revisited
For years, housing advocates have pointed to Texas as a beacon of supply-side equilibrium. By maintaining relatively loose zoning laws and a regulatory environment that favors rapid construction, Texas was able to keep housing costs lower than coastal counterparts for decades. The premise is simple: if you remove red tape, homes will be built quickly, and prices will drop.
Is deregulation Enough?
While the concept sounds promising in theory, UBS analysts argue that the market dynamics of 2025 are fundamentally different from those of 2000. Applying a quarter-century-old template to a modern, high-interest-rate, and supply-strained environment ignores three critical factors:
- Labor Shortages: Unlike the 90s, the construction industry is facing a chronic lack of skilled labor.
- Material Costs: Inflation in building materials has ballooned the cost of the “starter home.”
- Regulatory Complexity: Modern environmental and infrastructure requirements go far beyond the zoning issues of the past.
Why UBS Calls the Solution “Dead on Arrival”
In their latest report, UBS emphasizes that the reliance on deregulation fails to account for the “frozen” market effect. Current homeowners with low-interest mortgages are highly unlikely to move, creating a supply bottleneck that no amount of new construction law can immediately fix. The Texas model relied on greenfield progress-building on empty land outside metropolitan cores. In contrast, many of today’s demand-heavy regions are already built out.
| Factor | Texas Model (circa 2000) | Modern Reality (2025+) |
|---|---|---|
| Land Availability | abundant | Scarce/Environmentally Restricted |
| Labor | strong Pipeline | Significant Shortfalls |
| Interest Rates | Low/moderate | Structurally Higher |
