50-Year Mortgage Calculator: Will You Die Before You Own Your Home Outright? 

Over the weekend, President Donald Trump proposed creating a 50-year mortgage to solve the growing housing affordability crisis in America.

The idea was met with a mixed response: Some people who have been waiting on the sidelines to own a home for years relished the idea of a new path to ownership paired with lower monthly payments. Others were quick to call the idea unsustainable.

If the 50-year mortgage were to become a reality, it would, in fact, offer lower monthly payments compared to a standard 30-year loan. However, the total interest paid would be much higher over the lifetime of the loan. 

And then came the brutally honest question flooding social media feeds: “Will I even live long enough to own the home outright with a 50-year loan?”

It’s a fair question: The median age of first-time buyers rose to 40 in 2025. It was up from 38 the year before, and is even higher than the median age of 33 just five years ago, according to the annual profile of homebuyers and home sellers released by the National Association of Realtors®. 

Are homeowners really expected to work into their 90s to own a home? And what happens to the property if they never finish paying off their mortgage? And perhaps most important of all, would 50-year mortgages mean the end of generational wealth as we know it? 

50-year mortgage calculator and the (nearly) million-dollar question

To run the numbers properly, we’ll need to make a few assumptions, mainly because the White House hasn’t confirmed any official policy change. 

Over the weekend, Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte said the department was “working on” a plan, but nothing concrete has been announced.

For now, we can assume 50-year mortgage rates would be higher than 30-year rates, just as 30-year rates are higher than 15-year loans. As of Nov. 6, 15-year mortgage rates averaged 5.5%, while 30-year rates stood at 6.25%, according to Freddie Mac.

“The longer the life of the loan, the more compensation the lender will demand,” explains Realtor.com® senior economist Joel Berner.

While it’s impossible to know the exact rate difference yet, let’s use a comparable estimate to illustrate the cost.

According to Realtor.com calculations, a buyer purchasing a $400,000 home with 10% down at the current 30-year rate of 6.25% would pay about $250 less per month under a 50-year mortgage.

But the trade-off is steep. Over the life of the 50-year loan, total interest payments would reach $816,396, compared to $438,156 for the 30-year loan—a difference of $378,240, or 86% more interest overall.

Meanwhile, the 30-year borrower would have $42,308 more equity, equal to 10.6% of the home’s value.

“A 50-year mortgage slows down the pace of equity accumulation in a home compared to a 30-year mortgage,” Berner adds. “The first years of payments contain more interest and less principal, meaning that you own less of your home after the same amount of payments over a 50-year versus a 30-year.”

Still, the math could work out better than, say, renting. 

“As long as these mortgages are soundly underwritten, homeowners could still build equity through home price appreciation, as has historically occurred,” Lawrence Yun, chief economist of the NAR tells Realtor.com.

“This product may also offer a way to enter the market with lower monthly payments and, in many cases, provide a better long-term outcome than renting. But they would require a clear strategy to refinance or sell once the home appreciates in value.”

Will the 50-year mortgage actually happen?

If a 50-year mortgage were seriously on the table, it would be a long time before it was a reality.

Currently, qualified mortgages under the Dodd-Frank Act have a term limit of 30 years.

"It is not an easy task. A 50-year mortgage would require both legislative and regulatory changes," explains Max Slyusarchuk, CEO of AD Mortgage. "It’s legally possible to amend Dodd-Frank, but it would take congressional action."

If that's the case, it doesn't sound like Trump would have the support to do that, even from his party.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), for example, blasted the idea on social media, resurfacing her proposal on abolishing capital gains tax as an alternative. 

Meanwhile, according to Politico, almost immediately after Trump posted the idea on Truth Social, aides were “fielding angry calls” from those who thought the move was both “bad politics and bad policy.” 

And while Dave Ramsey has yet to officially weigh in on the policy, his daughter Rachel joked the family did a “wellness check” on him after it was suggested the news would put him in critical condition. (To be clear, Ramsey is perfectly fine. He's just historically against buying a house with anything other than a 15-year mortgage.)

Still, Trump seemed to downplay the proposal, saying it was not “a big deal” on Fox News. 

“All it means is you pay less per month,” Trump said to host Laura Ingraham. “Pay it over a longer period of time. It’s not like a big factor. It might help a little bit.”

Then again, it might hurt a lot more. 

“A 50-year mortgage inherently carries more risk, which is why it would have a higher interest rate than a 30-year mortgage,” explains Berner. "This could also combine with some of the other dynamics of the 50-year mortgage to make defaults riskier. In a situation where home values fall, on a 50-year mortgage where the homeowner has less equity in their home, they’re more likely to end up ‘underwater,' owing more on their home than it’s worth.”

Ultimately, as Yun explains, longer loan terms don’t actually address the “affordability challenges” faced by homeowners today. “Limited supply of homes in the low- and middle-price ranges” is the real hurdle.

The end of generational wealth?

A mortgage that stretches two decades beyond today’s 30-year norm would also come with the major drawback of making a significant dent in leaving generational wealth. 

American household debt levels—including mortgages, car loans, credit cards, and student loans—are now at a new record high, according to data released by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in November. 

Total household debt reached $18.59 trillion from July through September of this year, up by $197 billion from the previous quarter. Mortgage balances specifically grew by $137 billion in the quarter to a total of $13.07 trillion at the end of September.

Introducing a 50-year mortgage would almost certainly increase those debt levels. 

Depending on your age and income, there is also a scenario where a homeowner with a 50-year mortgage won’t live long enough to own their home outright. If you leave your home that has an outstanding loan to a beneficiary in your will or trust, your beneficiary will inherit not only the property but also the outstanding debt.

"If a homeowner passes away before the mortgage is paid off, the loan doesn’t disappear; it becomes part of the estate," Slyusarchuk explains.

"Typically, heirs can either assume the mortgage and continue making payments, refinance it in their own name, or sell the property to pay off the remaining balance."

It's the latter scenario where the payoff of a 50-year mortgage starts to fall flat.

“Because equity accumulation is slower, in a situation where a homeowner passes away after a certain number of years of paying off a mortgage, if that homeowner has a 50-year mortgage, they will pass down less ownership of the home and more debt than they would on a 30-year mortgage,” Berner explains. 

Returning to our hypothetical, let's assume that after 10 years, the owner dies. If the $400,000 home appreciates at a rate of 6.5% annually, its value would rise to about $752,300.

The heir of a 30-year mortgage holder would inherit roughly 10.6% more equity than the heir of someone with a 50-year loan on the same home, approximately $42,308 more equity. In other words, with more of the principal paid down, the more money you walk away with.

That gap is substantial when you consider covering selling costs, like commission and taxes, as well as renovations and concessions.