Trump will ban institutional investors from purchasing single-family homes
The president’s announcement was made against the backdrop of high inflation, which Trump blamed on former President Biden and Democrats in Congress.
President Trump Wednesday went to Truth Social to announce that he would “take immediate steps” to ban institutional investors from purchasing single-family homes.
The president’s announcement was made against the backdrop of high inflation, which Trump blamed on former President Biden and Democrats in Congress, and its role in making homeownership less feasible for Americans.
“For a long time, buying and owning a home was considered the pinnacle of the American Dream,” Trump wrote.
“It was the reward for hard work and doing the right thing, but now, because of record high inflation caused by Joe Biden and Democrats in Congress, the American Dream has become increasingly out of reach for far too many people, especially younger Americans,” he continued. “It is for that reason, and much more, that I am taking immediate steps to ban large institutional investors from purchasing any more single-family homes, and I will call on Congress to codify this. People live in homes, not businesses.”
The president ended the message by saying he would discuss the topic further in two weeks at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
In the years immediately following the pandemic, institutional investors, including real estate investment trusts (REITs) and private equity firms, have rapidly expanded their offerings of single-family homes for rental. Subsequently, some lawmakers and affordable housing advocates criticized these institutions, arguing that they take away supply from Americans and drive up housing prices.
More recently, however, institutional investor activity has been much less vigorous. According to figures, US home purchases rose only 1 percent year-on-year in the third quarter of 2025 Redfin. Homes purchased by investors made up about 17 percent of all U.S. home sales that quarter, or about 52,000 sales. The share of investor homes that ultimately sell at a loss is also at a two-year high, Redfin added.
Affordable housing has long been a popular voting issue that Americans have rallied behind. However, too much restriction on institutional investors’ purchases could also be bad for the market, some experts have argued. These entities are important for renovating dilapidated homes and can serve as a reliable source of demand for builders.
It is also not entirely clear how President Trump could legally establish such a ban. Select states in the US, including New York and California, have introduced legislation to limit the number of institutional investors who can purchase homes. When former Vice President Kamala Harris ran for president, she also called on Congress to ban investors who own fifty or more homes from deducting interest or depreciation on those properties.
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