In a social media post published earlier this week, President Donald Trump called on mortgage financing giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to “get big homebuilders going,” adding that they were “sitting on 2 million empty lots.”
According to the president, the solution to the U.S. housing affordability crisis is within reach, but homebuilders are reluctant to start new construction projects—which could alleviate the country’s shortage—despite developers having “a record” number of empty, undeveloped land available to build residential properties on.
It is unclear how many empty lots there are across the country. “We don’t have lot data. For small builders, about two-thirds report lots are in low supply, primarily due to financing challenges,” Robert Dietz, the chief economist at the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), told Newsweek.
Data from a 2023 study by CommercialCafe shows that a majority of the vacant land in the country is concentrated in a handful of cities, most of which are in Texas and California.
Where Is the Most Vacant Land in America? What We Know
The data provided by CommercialCafe is the latest available for vacant land in cities across the country. The company analyzed PropertyShark data and online government records to calculate the total acreage and number of parcels of undeveloped land throughout the 20 most populous American cities, ranking them from highest to lowest.Â
It found that five of the U.S. cities with the most vacant land are in the Lone Star State alone. Dallas took the top spot with 90,739 acres of vacant land. Fort Worth followed with 74,835, Phoenix with 53,022 and San Antonio with 48,834.
Both Houston and Los Angeles had over 40,000 acres of vacant land each—at 46,168 and 42,228, respectively. Indianapolis followed with 26,604 acres of vacant land. Rounding out the top 10 were Austin with 25,117, Jacksonville with 24,396 and Denver with 17,962.
There is likely less vacant land in Texas now than there was in 2023, considering that the state and the South in general experienced a construction boom over the past five years—though this had already slowed down by then.Â
Between January and October 2023, the state authorized the construction of 126,031 single-family homes, fewer than in 2021 and 2022—the peak years that followed COVID-19—according to the Texas Real Estate Research Center of Texas A&M University. A year later, in 2024, single-family building permits climbed to 136,374. Texas was the first state in the nation in terms of permit output, about 20,000 permits ahead of Florida and over 76,000 permits ahead of North Carolina.
However, according to a recent analysis by Realtor.com, last year the South was still the region with the largest inventory imbalance in the country. In 2024, the U.S. housing supply gap was estimated to reach 3.8 million, according to the real estate brokerage, with the South having the biggest gap at 1.15 million homes.
What Does Trump Want From Homebuilders, and How Do They Feel?
The president wants homebuilders to “start building homes.” In his Truth Social post, he called homebuilders “my friends,” but he also blamed them for not taking action to solve the housing shortage.
“They’re my friends, and they’re very important to the SUCCESS of our Country, but now, they can get Financing, and they have to start building Homes. They’re sitting on 2 Million empty lots, A RECORD,” he added. “I’m asking Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to get Big Homebuilders going and, by so doing, help restore the American Dream!”
Boosting inventory and improving affordability in the U.S. housing market was one of Trump’s 2024 presidential election campaign promises. However, elevated borrowing costs and rising home prices continued to keep American buyers to the sidelines last year, while growing economic uncertainty linked in part to the effects of the Trump administration’s sweeping tariff policies have had builders worried.
In September, U.S. homebuilder sentiment stayed flat month over month at 32, the lowest level since December 2022, according to the latest NAHB data. That means builders are discouraged about the future.
Many have been forced to cut prices and offer all types of incentives to encourage skittish buyers to close deals in recent months, and they are unwilling to build more homes when the market does not appear to be in their favor.Â
According to NAHB, 39 percent of builders reported cutting prices in September, up from 37 percent in August and the highest percentage since the end of the pandemic. In September, the average price reduction was 5 percent, and the use of sales incentives was 65 percent, essentially unchanged from 66 percent in August.
Dietz believed that “more financing opportunities for lot development and construction” would help homebuilders start the construction of more homes. C-P loans—a type of short-term loan, usually three years or less, for the construction of real estate property—would also help, he said. “Perhaps a secondary market for builder loans,” Dietz added.
“President Trump is right to focus on housing affordability, and NAHB agrees that getting more homes built is essential to restoring the American Dream,” NAHB chairman Buddy Hughes said in a statement shared with Newsweek. “Achieving that goal will require builders of all sizes working together with the administration to overcome the complex government barriers that slow the pace of new construction.”
He continued, “NAHB stands ready to partner with the administration and Congress to remove regulatory obstacles, ease building material and labor shortages, and expand access to affordable financing to enable builders to construct more attainable, affordable housing.”
