Trump's Proposed Ban on Institutional Investors Owning Single-Family Homes Would Make No One Better OffWhile owning a very small percentage of single-family homes, large investors provide renters with more options and increase home construction rates.
Christian Britschgi | 1.8.2026
In the latest development in horseshoe theory, President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that his administration would ban large institutional investors from owning single-family homes.
"People live in homes, not corporations," said Trump in a Truth Social post. He promised his administration would unilaterally ban large investors from buying homes and ask Congress to codify the restriction.
https://x.com/JamesBlairUSA/status/2008958463922327841The notion that the president could enact such a ban on his own authority seems dubious in the extreme. Still, the proposal is popular with wings of both the Republican and Democratic parties, and Trump is likely to find several allies in Congress who would support passing such a law.
Large institutional investors have gone from buying effectively zero single-family homes before the Great Recession to being responsible for a small but non-negligible percentage of home purchasers in recent years.
As investors' activity has grown, so too have complaints from politicians of both parties that they are outbidding would-be owner-occupier families, who are then condemned to a life of perpetual renting.
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Source:
https://reason.com/2026/01/08/trumps-proposed-ban-on-institutional-investors-owning-single-family-homes-would-make-no-one-better-off/
