CBS News | Megan Cerullo
President Trump said on Wednesday that he will take steps to prevent institutional investors from buying single-family homes, claiming the move would help make housing more affordable for Americans. In a social media post, Mr. Trump said that the dream of home ownership has become increasingly out of reach for many Americans, and that action is needed to allow more people to reach the milestone of owning a residence.
“I am immediately taking steps to ban large institutional investors from buying more single-family homes, and I will be calling on Congress to codify it,” Mr. Trump wrote. “People live in homes, not corporations.”
He added that he will provide more details about the proposal at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, later this month. The White House declined to provide more information on Mr. Trump’s plans for restricting large investors from acquiring homes.
Still, the recent rise of institutional investors purchasing single-family homes can have negative spillover effects for consumers, research shows.
In 2024, the Government Accountability Office found that institutional investment can increase rents and home prices, particularly in geographies with high concentrations of investor-owned properties.
Advocates for policies benefiting property owners said they would support policies that block large investors from scooping up properties.
“We are very glad to see that the administration is squarely focusing on housing and housing affordability,” Colin Allen, executive director of the American Property Owners Alliance, a nonpartisan advocacy group, told CBS News. “Each home that is taken off the market by an institutional investor is one less for an owner-occupant to try to move into at a time when there is a lot of competition for homes for sale.”
More than 75% of homes across the U.S. are unaffordable for most Americans, according to Bankrate, a personal finance site.