JPMorgan Chase says it’s investing a whopping $750 billion through 2035 to help millions of Americans buy homes as many report the economic milestone slipping further out of reach.
The nation’s largest bank said the financing will build or preserve 1 million affordable housing units and help half a million customers purchase homes as part of its “American Dream Initiative” unveiled earlier this year, which aims to support small businesses and other economic pillars.
“An affordable and resilient housing market is essential to driving economic growth and increasing opportunity,” Michelle Herrick, JPMorgan’s head of commercial real estate, said in a Monday statement.
The bank said it plans to help those 500,000 customers – including 200,000 first-time homebuyers – purchase houses by ramping up mortgage lending by more than 40% and hiring 850 new Home Lending Advisors.
It has carved out funding specifically for housing projects in the San Francisco area priced within reach of middle-income households, including nearly $200 million in financing for a 342-unit building on the waterfront, according to the bank.
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, who has led the bank for two decades, has long sounded the alarm over the future of the economy — specifically housing affordability issues in cities like New York City and San Francisco.
In June, the median price of existing homes reached a staggering $440,660, while the median age of first-time homebuyers last year jumped to 40 — the highest age on record, according to the National Association of Realtors.
In the New York City metro area, the crisis is even worse, with the median age of a homebuyer hitting 58.8 years old – just a few years shy of Social Security eligibility.
“Homeownership has always been at the heart of the American Dream. Owning a home can transform lives – providing stability, helping families build wealth, and creating a sense of community,” Sean Grzebin, CEO of Chase Home Lending, said in a statement Monday.
“Our goal is to make the path to homeownership clearer and more accessible for more people, wherever they are in their financial journey.”
In May, Dimon said he had spoken to the Big Apple’s far-left Mayor Zohran Mamdani about his concerns for the city, particularly “affordable housing and child care.”
“I got to talk about affordable housing and child care. Most people want it. If you do it badly, it would be a disaster,” Dimon, a Queens native, told Fox Business Network host Maria Bartiromo. “Do it right. There are studies that can tell you how to do it right. Get people who know what they’re doing and implement proper policies.
“Good policy is free,” Dimon added. “I feel like telling the politicians, ‘Don’t try to raise more taxes or spend more money, sit down and fix policy.’”
He unveiled the bank’s American Dream Initiative in March, announcing plans to lend small businesses up to $80 billion over the next 10 years.
The multi-year effort will also focus on collaborating with states and local communities to streamline regulatory roadblocks and expand tax credit partnerships.
It will offer support to a revamped housing bill passed by Congress in June that seeks to cut red tape around environmental reviews on housing projects and remove certain building restrictions.