Could the MOVE Act Make It Easier to Sell Without Giving Up Your Mortgage Rate?

There are homeowners all over the southwest suburbs who would probably move if doing so did not mean walking away from the mortgage rate they already have.

Maybe the house is too big now. Maybe they need another bedroom. Maybe they want to move closer to family. Maybe they are ready to downsize out of Frankfort, Mokena, New Lenox, Tinley Park, Orland Park, or another nearby community.

Then they look at the mortgage payment on the next house.

Suddenly that move does not look nearly as attractive.

That problem has become known as mortgage-rate lock-in, and a new proposal in Congress called the MOVE Act is taking direct aim at it.

What Is the MOVE Act?

The Making Ownership Viable for Everyone Act, better known as the MOVE Act, was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives on August 3, 2026.

The basic idea is fairly easy to understand.

Instead of automatically paying off your old mortgage when you sell your house and starting completely over with a new loan, a portable mortgage could allow the same borrower to transfer certain parts of the existing mortgage to a replacement property.

Under the introduced legislation, those transferable terms could include:

• the existing mortgage interest rate
• the remaining loan term
• the outstanding mortgage balance

The proposal would direct Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, within 180 days after enactment, to begin purchasing and securitizing qualifying conventional mortgages that permit this type of portability.

Why This Matters So Much to Sellers

The homeowner who benefits most directly from this idea is someone who already owns a home and already has a mortgage they do not want to lose.

Imagine you bought or refinanced when mortgage rates were around 3% or 4%.

Your house worked perfectly five years ago.

Now maybe the kids have moved out and you no longer want to maintain 3,000 square feet. Or maybe your family has grown and you have completely run out of space.

You start thinking about selling.

Then you calculate the payment on the next house.

You are not just changing homes anymore. You are potentially replacing a historically low mortgage rate with whatever financing is available today.

For a lot of homeowners, that ends the conversation.

They stay where they are.

And their house never comes onto the market.

Mortgage Lock-In Is Affecting the Entire Housing Market

This is not just a theoretical problem.

Research from the Federal Housing Finance Agency estimated that mortgage-rate lock-in prevented approximately 1.72 million home sales between the second quarter of 2022 and the second quarter of 2024.

The same research estimated that the resulting reduction in housing supply pushed home prices approximately 7% higher than they otherwise would have been during that period.

That matters throughout the southwest suburbs because housing inventory has already been unusually tight.

Every homeowner who wants to move but decides not to because of their mortgage rate represents another house that never becomes available to the next buyer.

Portable mortgages would not create new houses.

But they could potentially help unlock some of the houses that already exist.

How a Portable Mortgage Could Work

Suppose you currently owe $250,000 on a mortgage with a 3.25% interest rate.

You sell that house and purchase another property.

Under the basic portable-mortgage concept, instead of paying off that $250,000 loan and replacing the entire amount with a brand-new mortgage, the existing balance and its favorable terms could potentially move with you to the replacement property.

That sounds simple until the replacement house costs more.

And that is where one of the biggest unanswered questions begins.

What Happens If the Next House Costs More?

Most move-up buyers are not selling a $350,000 house just to buy another $350,000 house.

Maybe you owe $250,000 on your current mortgage but want to buy a $500,000 property.

The MOVE Act discusses transferring the existing mortgage balance and terms. The introduced bill does not provide a detailed consumer roadmap explaining exactly how the additional amount needed to purchase the new property would be financed.

That additional financing could eventually involve:

• a second mortgage
• a supplemental new loan
• additional cash from the borrower
• some other financing structure developed by lenders, Fannie Mae, or Freddie Mac

Those details would have to be worked out if the legislation advances and portable mortgages become an actual lending product.

So this is not a finished mortgage program sitting on a lender's desk today.

It is a proposed framework.

Could This Help Move-Up Buyers?

Potentially, yes.

A move-up buyer is usually also a seller.

Someone leaving a $350,000 house for a $500,000 house may be perfectly comfortable with the price difference but uncomfortable with replacing the low mortgage rate on their entire existing balance.

If part of that financing could move with them, the monthly-payment calculation could look very different.

The same principle could apply to homeowners relocating for work, moving into another school district, moving closer to family, or simply wanting a different home.

The important point is not that portable mortgages make moving cheap.

They potentially remove one of the financial penalties that currently discourages people from moving at all.

What About Downsizers?

Downsizers may be one of the most interesting groups to watch if mortgage portability ever becomes common.

There are homeowners throughout Frankfort, Mokena, New Lenox, Tinley Park, Orland Park, Homer Glen, Lockport, and surrounding communities who own larger homes than they now need.

Some would like to move into something smaller, newer, easier to maintain, or closer to family.

But downsizing does not always mean the next property is inexpensive.

A newer ranch, townhome, condominium, or low-maintenance property can still carry a substantial purchase price.

Giving up a very low existing mortgage rate can make the supposed "downsizing" payment surprisingly unattractive.

A portable mortgage could potentially make that transition easier for some homeowners.

Would First-Time Buyers Benefit?

Not directly.

A first-time buyer does not already have a mortgage to carry to another property.

And the MOVE Act is not a proposal to give a first-time buyer somebody else's old mortgage rate.

That is closer to an assumable mortgage, which is a different concept.

The possible benefit to first-time buyers would come from inventory.

If existing homeowners become more willing to sell, more properties could become available for purchase.

That gives first-time buyers more choices and potentially reduces some of the intense competition created by extremely limited supply.

More inventory does not automatically mean home prices fall.

Demand, interest rates, employment, new construction, and local market conditions all matter.

But increasing the number of available homes would at least attack one side of the affordability problem.

Portable Mortgages and Assumable Mortgages Are Not the Same Thing

These terms are easy to confuse because both involve keeping an existing mortgage structure alive after a real estate transaction.

But the borrower who keeps the loan is different.

• Portable mortgage: The existing homeowner keeps the mortgage and transfers it to another property.
• Assumable mortgage: A new buyer takes over the seller's existing mortgage, subject to the rules and qualification requirements of that loan program.

With portability, the homeowner moves and the mortgage follows them.

With assumption, the homeowner leaves and the mortgage stays with the property for the new buyer.

Would Your Current 3% Mortgage Suddenly Become Portable?

This may be the biggest misconception to avoid.

No provision in the introduced MOVE Act automatically converts every existing conventional mortgage into a portable loan.

The legislation would require Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to support qualifying mortgages that permit portability.

There would still need to be rules determining:

• which mortgages qualify
• which lenders offer portable products
• how borrowers qualify for the replacement property
• how the replacement property is valued and approved
• how additional financing is handled
• whether any existing loans could ever be modified into portable mortgages

Those answers do not exist yet.

So if you currently have a 3% mortgage, do not start packing because somebody introduced a bill in Congress.

We're nowhere near that point.

Why This Could Matter in the Southwest Suburbs

The southwest suburban housing market has spent the past several years dealing with an unusual combination of strong buyer demand and very limited inventory.

New construction helps, but new subdivisions alone are not enough to replace the enormous number of existing homeowners who would normally move from one house to another every year.

That normal chain of transactions matters.

A homeowner in Frankfort sells to a move-up buyer.

That move-up buyer sells their smaller house to another buyer.

That seller moves into something else.

One transaction can create several additional transactions behind it.

Mortgage-rate lock-in interrupts that chain.

If the first homeowner never moves, none of the homes behind them necessarily become available either.

That is why mortgage portability could have consequences far beyond the individual borrower keeping the rate.

Could Portable Mortgages Bring Home Prices Down?

Possibly, but I would be very careful making that prediction.

More homes coming onto the market generally gives buyers more choices and reduces some of the pressure created by extreme shortages.

That could slow the rate at which prices increase.

It could also give wages and household incomes more time to catch up with housing costs if inventory becomes more balanced over a longer period.

But additional supply could also be accompanied by additional demand.

The same portable mortgage that makes one homeowner comfortable selling may also make that homeowner a more aggressive buyer of the next property.

Housing markets do not move based on one variable.

Still, removing one of the biggest reasons homeowners are refusing to sell would almost certainly change the inventory equation.

Where Does the MOVE Act Go From Here?

Right now, nowhere is guaranteed.

The bill has been introduced and referred to committee.

It could advance.

It could be amended substantially.

It could be folded into another housing proposal.

Or it could never make it out of committee.

That is normal for federal legislation.

What makes the MOVE Act worth watching is not that portable mortgages are about to appear tomorrow.

It is that policymakers are beginning to address a problem that has quietly become one of the biggest obstacles in the existing-home market.

The Bigger Question for Homeowners

For years, most of the affordability conversation has focused on buyers.

Mortgage rates are high.

Prices are high.

Down payments are difficult.

All of that matters.

But there is another question that affects the supply side of the market:

How do you get homeowners who already own houses moving again?

If someone wants to sell but feels financially trapped because moving requires giving up an unusually favorable mortgage, that house stays off the market.

Multiply that decision across hundreds of thousands of homeowners and you end up with the inventory problem we're dealing with today.

The MOVE Act may or may not become law.

But the problem it is trying to solve is very real.

The Bottom Line for Southwest Suburb Sellers

If you already own a home, portable mortgages could eventually make moving easier without forcing you to completely abandon the economics of the mortgage you already have.

That could be particularly meaningful for downsizers, move-up buyers, relocating homeowners, and anyone who feels financially stuck because of a low existing mortgage rate.

For buyers, the benefit would be different.

More homeowners willing to move could mean more existing homes actually coming onto the market.

Nothing about the MOVE Act changes your mortgage today.

But if mortgage portability becomes a real part of the U.S. housing market, it could change something just as important as the interest rate itself:

how willing homeowners are to move in the first place.

Sources

• U.S. Congress / GovInfo: H.R. 10028, Making Ownership Viable for Everyone Act
• Office of Congressman Thomas Kean Jr.: MOVE Act introduction and legislative summary
• Federal Housing Finance Agency: The Lock-In Effect of Rising Mortgage Rates