What Is a Portable Mortgage? What the MOVE Act Would Actually Do

What is a portable mortgage?

A portable mortgage follows the borrower instead of staying with the house. When you sell and buy again, the rate, the remaining balance, and the term move with you to the new property. Everything above that balance is financed separately, at whatever rate is available the day you move.

This differs from an assumable mortgage, the version that already exists here. An assumable loan stays with the house and a buyer takes it over. A portable loan follows the person. Opposite directions, and the two get used interchangeably almost everywhere.

Can I get a portable mortgage right now?

No. No lender in the United States offers one on a conventional loan, and no federal rule permits it. The MOVE Act (H.R. 10028) was introduced in the House on August 3, 2026 and referred to the Financial Services Committee. As of August 2026 it has no cosponsors, no Senate companion, and no hearing scheduled.

Its sponsor, Representative Thomas Kean Jr. of New Jersey, remains the only member of Congress attached to it. The Federal Housing Finance Agency said in November 2025 it was evaluating portable and assumable loans, has published nothing since, and nothing on the subject appears in the Federal Register.

Would I have to sell my current home to use it?

Yes. This is the one requirement the bill states plainly, and it is the detail most coverage leaves out. The text describes transferring your rate to a new property "within 90 days of selling the property originally securing such mortgage." Selling is a condition, not an option.

That matters if you have considered keeping your current home as a rental while you buy the next one. A tenant covering a low payment is a real strategy and one we walk through often. Under this bill, that path and portability are mutually exclusive.

What happens if the new house costs more than my current balance?

Only the balance carries over, never the purchase price. If you owe $300,000 and buy a home needing a $450,000 loan, the extra $150,000 is new money financed at whatever rate you qualify for that day, usually through a second lien. Your payment lands between the old rate and the current one.

So the benefit shrinks as you move up. Someone buying a similar or cheaper home keeps most of the advantage. Someone stretching for a larger one keeps a fraction, the opposite of how the idea is usually described.

Who actually pays for a portable mortgage?

Most likely the next person buying a home. Your mortgage does not sit in a vault at your bank. It was pooled with thousands of others and sold to investors, and that pool is priced on the assumption the loan stays tied to the property. A portable loan lives longer and pays slower, so its holder needs compensating.

The Urban Institute estimated in December 2025 that a portable loan would carry a higher rate at origination, by as much as 40 basis points, to cover that longer duration. Their conclusion was that most borrowers would keep choosing the cheaper traditional mortgage. Price it accurately and few buy it. Price it below cost and someone absorbs the difference.

Haven't we already tried this?

A version of it, yes. FHA and VA loans have been assumable for decades. In Arizona that is not a small pool: 24.9% of outstanding mortgages are FHA, VA, or USDA loans, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency's National Mortgage Database for the first quarter of 2026.

Almost nobody uses it. Federal Housing Administration assumptions came in under 6,000 for fiscal year 2024, against an insured book of 7.81 million loans. Neither FHA nor the Department of Veterans Affairs publishes assumption volume, so those counts come from reporting rather than an agency release. That was a stretch when the average outstanding mortgage sat more than two points below the market rate, which is when the option is worth most.

The reason is administrative rather than economic. FHA's handbook prohibits running an assumption through automated underwriting, so every file is underwritten by hand. Ginnie Mae's guide prohibits removing a loan from a pool without written permission. Neither rule appears anywhere in the MOVE Act's two pages.

What does this mean for East Valley homeowners?

Arizona is more rate-locked than the country is. As of the first quarter of 2026, 52.5% of Arizona mortgages carried a rate below 4%, against 49.9% nationally, and the average Arizona mortgage sits at 4.3% (Federal Housing Finance Agency, National Mortgage Database). The 30-year fixed rate averaged 6.67% for the week ending August 13, 2026 (Freddie Mac).

The first time this came up for me was not in a client meeting. It was over lunch at Zipps, when a friend asked what I made of it. That is the part worth noticing. This has moved out of policy coverage and into ordinary conversation well ahead of the bill going anywhere.

What we tell clients has not changed. When rates move in your favor, that is good news for selling your house, because more people can afford it, and bad news for buying the next one, because you are competing with more people. You are on both sides of it, so a rate feature that helps one half works against the other.

There is also real money on the table today that has nothing to do with legislation. In the Phoenix metro, 57% of transactions closed last month with seller concessions, at a median of $10,200 (Cromford Report, July 2026). Most sellers have never considered that a rate tool.

If you are weighing a move, the useful exercise is not tracking a bill with no cosponsors. It is running your numbers on both halves at once: what your home sells for, what the next costs, and what the gap does to the payment. We do that with a home valuation and a look at current East Valley market conditions before anyone lists. If selling is the half you are least sure about, start with our selling guide.

Where I might be wrong about this

Three places. The bill never states whether it would reach existing loans, so any reading of it rests on interpretation. The 40 basis point estimate traces to a single source. And the best argument for portability is one I find hard to answer, which is that a homeowner who sells and buys adds a listing and a buyer at the same time.

If that holds, the worry about prices is overstated, and the people it frees up may be downsizers more than move-up buyers. If you work closer to lending than I do, I would rather hear where this breaks than be told it sounds right.

Frequently asked questions

What is a portable mortgage?

A portable mortgage lets a borrower transfer an existing interest rate, loan balance, and remaining term to a new property instead of taking out a new loan at current rates. It follows the person rather than the house. Portable mortgages are not available in the United States today.

Is a portable mortgage the same as an assumable mortgage?

No, they work in opposite directions. An assumable mortgage stays with the property, and a buyer takes over the seller's existing loan. A portable mortgage would follow the borrower to a new property. FHA and VA loans are already assumable today; no conventional loan is portable.

Would a portable mortgage cover the full price of my next home?

No. Only your remaining loan balance would carry over. Any amount above that balance would be financed separately at current rates, typically through a second lien, which raises your blended payment. The benefit is largest for someone buying a similar or less expensive home.

Do I have to sell my current home to use a portable mortgage?

Yes, under the bill as written. The text requires transferring the rate to a new property within 90 days of selling the property that originally secured the mortgage. Keeping the current home as a rental and porting the rate to a new purchase would not be permitted.

Josh Hogan | Live AZ Co | Real Broker AZ, LLC #LC696641000 | Equal Housing Opportunity