President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social Wednesday that he wants to ban large institutional investors from buying more single-family homes, arguing that “people live in homes, not corporations.”
The proposal is seemingly meant to improve housing affordability, but large institutional investors represent only a small share of the market. Firms that own 100 or more single-family homes control roughly 2% of the nation’s single-family housing stock, according to John Burns Research and Consulting — raising questions about how much impact such a ban would have.
Trump has not said exactly how the policy would be implemented or how broadly it would apply.
In an interview with CNBC on Thursday, Bill Pulte, Trump’s appointed director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, criticized institutional investors for “buying a lot of homes” directly from builders, suggesting the proposal could extend beyond resale homes to newly built single-family housing.
Supporters of restrictions argue that institutional investors often outbid would-be homeowners competing for the same homes, particularly in fast-growing markets.
