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Kevin Hassett on CNN: 'We're Making Progress' on Mortgage Payments and Prices

November 23, 2025 · Forbes Breaking News · 0:01:46

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What happened

National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett discussed affordability with CNN’s Jake Tapper. Pressed with figures showing overall prices up 1.4 percent since January and 2.4 percent year over year, Hassett answered, as he stated it, that inflation is coming down and a lot of prices are coming down, and that year-over-year comparisons load the high Biden inflation of the second half of the prior year onto President Trump’s record, when December and January monthly readings of 0.4 and 0.5 percent annualize to large numbers.

Hassett emphasized the household math: because of higher inflation and higher interest rates, he said, the typical mortgage for the average American went from about $1,200 to about $2,400 a month, while grocery prices rising at roughly 1.9 to 5 percent added hundreds of dollars more in monthly expenses. He said the National Economic Council estimated the all-in extra annual cost under President Biden at about $25,000 for a typical family, as he stated it.

He concluded that progress is being made — the mortgage rate has come down a couple hundred dollars a month and a lot of grocery prices have leveled off or come down — while conceding there is a lot of progress still to be made and that the administration understands why people are frustrated, as he stated it.

Why it matters

The segment is the administration’s affordability defense on hostile turf: Hassett concedes frustration while relocating the blame to inherited inflation and pointing to early mortgage-payment relief.

Scoreboard watch

Flagged for the scoreboard editor: Hassett stated the typical monthly mortgage rose from about $1,200 to about $2,400 under the prior administration and has since come down a couple hundred dollars a month, with an estimated $25,000 in extra annual costs per typical family; no verdict is given here.

Sources: Forbes Breaking News, “‘We’re Making Progress’: Kevin Hassett Touts Lower Mortgage Payments, Prices Under Trump”, 2025-11-23 (official upload, embedded above; published 2025-11-23). Transcript via Supadata (private research store, paraphrased and attributed, not republished). All figures and characterizations as stated by the speakers.