NEW YORK, Dec 3 (Reuters) – Lower interest rates would likely eliminate the need for a 50-year mortgage floated by President Donald Trump to boost housing affordability, Joseph Lavorgna, a counselor to U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, said on Wednesday.

Lavorgna said at the Reuters NEXT conference in New York that the idea of a 50-year mortgage was not necessarily officially off the table, but described it as a proposal from the Federal Housing Finance Agency to try to lower monthly mortgage payments. The problem with the housing market is that interest rates are too high because of the Federal Reserve’s cautious approach to lowering them, he added.