A new federal bill is taking aim at mortgage lock-in by pushing portable mortgages into the conventional market, a move that could eventually give some borrowers more flexibility when they move. The proposal could also have broader implications for seller mobility and housing inventory nationwide.
Rep. Tom Kean Jr., R-N.J., introduced the Making Ownership Viable for Everyone (MOVE) Act, H.R. 10028, on Aug. 3. If enacted, it would require Fannie and Freddie within 180 days to begin purchasing and securitizing eligible conventional mortgages under which lenders permit borrowers to transfer the interest rate, terms, and remaining balance to a new property within 90 days of selling the original home.
What the MOVE Act would require
The MOVE Act goes further than H.R. 7754, the Take Your Rate Act of 2026, introduced in March by Rep. Tom Barrett, R-Mich. That measure would require HUD and the Federal Housing Finance Agency to study the feasibility and potential effects of portable federally backed mortgages and report to Congress.
H.R. 10028 instead directs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to support qualifying portable conventional mortgages through the secondary market. Both bills remain before the House Financial Services Committee, with no further congressional action listed as of Aug. 20.
Neither proposal gives homeowners a portability option they can use today. The MOVE Act also does not require existing mortgage contracts to be rewritten to make current loans portable.
What the bill leaves unresolved
The legislation does not establish how a borrower buying a more expensive home would finance an amount above the transferred balance. It also does not set specific rules for requalification, appraisals, or loan-to-value requirements.
Any rollout would still require lenders, servicers, the GSEs, and regulators to work out the operational rules.
Mortgage lock-in remains widespread
The proposal arrives while many homeowners still hold rates well below those available to new borrowers, prolonging the mortgage lock-in effect that has limited homeowner mobility.
In the first quarter of 2026, 49.9% of outstanding mortgages had rates of 4% or lower, according to the latest analysis of federal mortgage data.
That gap can discourage owners from selling if a move requires replacing inexpensive financing with a higher-rate loan. Kean has presented portability as a way to give those homeowners more flexibility and potentially return additional existing homes to the market.
Whether the policy would meaningfully increase inventory is uncertain. Its effect would depend on lender participation, borrower eligibility, and whether the economics make moving more attractive.
The secondary-market hurdle
Portable loans would also have to fit into a mortgage market built around property-backed securities. One economic analysis of portable mortgages argues that moving a loan to different collateral could complicate mortgage-backed securities pricing, underwriting, and servicing.
The bill does not specify how those issues would be handled.
Portable vs. assumable mortgages
Portability and assumability work differently. A portable mortgage follows the borrower to a replacement property, while an assumable mortgage remains with the property and may be taken over by a qualified buyer.
Some government-backed mortgages, including FHA and VA loans, can already be assumed by qualifying buyers under program rules. The MOVE Act instead addresses eligible conventional mortgages that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could purchase and securitize.
What agents can tell clients now
For now, portability remains a proposal rather than a financing option agents can offer clients. Sellers weighing a move still need to compare the cost of giving up their current mortgage against today’s financing and speak with their lender or servicer about options available under their existing loan.
If the MOVE Act advances, the transaction details will come down to lender participation, borrower eligibility, treatment of existing mortgages, and how buyers finance the gap between a transferred balance and the price of their next home.