Americans are watching the American Dream slip farther out of reach as the median age for first-time homebuyers hits 40, according to recent National Association of Realtors data. Young adults who once bought starter homes in their late twenties are now being forced to wait a decade or more, a reality that crushes upward mobility and the natural rhythm of family formation. This statistic is not a mere number — it is a national warning light that our economic and policy choices are costing families their futures.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has been blunt about the human cost: without homeownership, many Americans postpone marriage and children, and the social fabric frays. Speaking at a Breitbart event with Matthew Boyle, Bessent connected the dots between ownership, investment, and family formation while promoting practical policy fixes. Conservatives should applaud a Washington leader who recognizes that policy must strengthen families instead of subsidizing dependency.
Enter Trump Accounts — a common-sense, ownership-first idea that seeds every newborn with a stake in America and pairs private contributions with financial literacy. The Treasury lays out how each eligible newborn receives an initial $1,000 deposit into an indexed investment vehicle, with the opportunity for parents, employers, and philanthropists to add up to thousands annually to build real wealth over time. This is the kind of patient, capitalist policy that brings ordinary Americans into markets and makes ownership attainable, not a handout that permanently enlarges government.
If conservatives want to restore earlier homeownership and encourage families to start sooner, Trump Accounts are a pragmatic tool: small seed capital compounded over years can become meaningful down payments or co-investments in starter homes. The Treasury has projected large long-term growth from early indexed investments, and private partnerships — like the multi-billion dollar Dell contribution to boost accounts for millions of children — prove the policy can mobilize real capital outside of bureaucratic welfare programs. This is wealth-building that rewards work, thrift, and market participation rather than creating lifelong dependency.
Of course the left and the legacy media screeched that this is a stealth plan to privatize Social Security, seizing on offhand remarks and political fear-mongering. Democrats immediately labeled Bessent’s comments as proof of a plot to gut a vital program, and pundits indulged the scaremongering instead of offering solutions to the actual problem: fewer young Americans owning assets. Bessent and the administration have repeatedly clarified that Trump Accounts are additive — a supplement to, not a replacement for, Social Security — and conservatives should not be bullied into surrendering the language of ownership and opportunity.
The real culprits behind the 40-year-old first-time buyer are bad supply-side policy, punitive regulation, and the economics of housing that favor locked-in incumbents with ultra-low mortgage rates. Record prices and a chronic shortage of starter homes have been driven by decades of disincentives to build, and the only durable fix is to unleash production and give young families a path to accumulate capital. Reforms that encourage construction, lower regulatory costs, and expand ownership through investment accounts are exactly the conservative remedies our country needs.
Patriots who believe in family, faith, and ownership should make this fight their cause: push for policies that put capital in young hands, cut the red tape that stops builders, and celebrate a vision of America where owning a home and raising a family aren’t luxuries but expectations. The left prefers permanent dependence and the politics of scarcity; conservatives must offer abundance — not by writing checks that create entitlement, but by restoring the ownership economy that made this country great. Supporting Trump Accounts and pro-growth housing reforms is the conservative road back to stronger families and a stronger nation.
