President Donald Trump on Wednesday reiterated his push to restrict large institutional investors from buying single-family homes, arguing that Wall Street firms have crowded out would-be homebuyers.
“You have these big companies, these big corporations, buying up thousands of homes and renting them or doing whatever they do with them,” Trump told CNBC’s Joe Kernen in an interview in Davos, Switzerland. “Some of them are flipping them for a big profit, but it got to be too much. We want people to be able to buy a home.”
Trump’s comments followed an executive order he signed Tuesday directing federal agencies to curb institutional investor activity in the single-family housing market.
The order gives the Treasury Department 30 days to define “large institutional investor” and “single-family home,” and directs federal agencies to issue guidance within 60 days to implement restrictions, including limits on acquisitions and the sale of federally owned single-family homes to institutional investors.
However, housing analysts remain skeptical, saying a lack of affordability is being driven far more by a lack of supply than by investor demand.
