Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has attributed a recent decline in U.S. apartment rents to President Donald J. Trump’s mass deportation agenda, citing data showing rental prices have fallen significantly.
Bessent made the remarks on Tuesday, December 16, 2025, stating: “Rents are down. You know the story that the Biden administration doesn’t want to talk about: The mass unfettered immigration that pushed up rents, especially for working Americans.”
According to Bessent, apartment rents dropped by 1.1 percent compared to the previous year and 5.2 percent compared to November 2022. He cited a Wharton School study indicating that every one percent increase in population corresponds with a one percent rise in rent. “By enforcing the border and sending home more than two million illegals, we’re now seeing… rents coming down substantially,” Bessent said.
The Treasury Secretary added: “I think that will continue for the rest of the year. We brought interest rates down, so we brought mortgage rates down, and I think everything else will follow that.”
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner recently noted that housing price surges linked to former President Joe Biden’s immigration policies “are not a coincidence, it’s a correlation.”
Historical data reveals sharp rent increases in early 2024. New York City saw one-bedroom rents surge by 18 percent in February 2024, reaching $4,200 on average. Jersey City experienced a similar spike, with median rents rising 5.4 percent to $3,140.
A HUD investigation found that the foreign-born population surged by more than six million between 2021 and 2024. The report stated: “This immigration-driven increase in households has contributed to a significant increase in housing demand, thus driving up housing prices. In fact, in some markets, immigration has accounted for nearly all of the increase in housing demand in recent years.”
