JPMorgan Chase to invest $750 billion in increasing the U.S. housing supply and homeownership

JPMorgan Chase said on Monday it will invest $750 billion through 2035 to boost the U.S. housing supply, including financing for 1 million affordable housing units and assisting 500,000 people in buying homes. 

The investment is part of JPMorgan Chase’s American Dream Initiative, announced in March to boost economic mobility at a time when many Americans say traditional financial milestones are slipping further out of reach. The investment represents a 40% increase in the bank’s housing capital deployment compared to the previous 10 years, the company said in a statement.

The effort is rolling out as housing costs continue to march higher, pricing homes beyond the reach of many Americans. The median price of existing homes in June reached a record $440,660, marking 36 straight months of higher property prices. 

“An affordable and resilient housing market is essential to driving economic growth and increasing opportunity,” Michelle Herrick, head of commercial real estate for JPMorgan, said in the statement.

A majority of Americans surveyed by CBS News earlier this year said it’s harder to reach goals like buying a home or raising a family than it was for past generations. Homeownership is considered a key pathway to building wealth, yet fewer than four in 10 non-homeowner households can afford a typical starter home, according to LendingTree.

JPMorgan said its efforts to expand the nation’s housing supply will focus on collaborating with states and local communities to streamline zoning and building codes, as well as to expand tax credits and private-public partnerships. 

The banking giant plans to assist 500,000 customers, including 200,000 first-time homebuyers, in buying homes by increasing JPMorgan’s mortgage lending by more than 40%. The bank plans to accomplish that partly by adding 850 new home-lending advisers and by developing new loan products for modular and manufactured homes.