Teasing a plan on Truth Social, President Donald Trump is moving to prevent large-scale institutional investors from buying single-family homes.
In the post, he said that the American Dream is increasingly out of reach for too many people. “It is for that reason, and much more, that 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. People live in homes, not corporations,” he said.
Trump plans to discuss the topic in two weeks at the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Switzerland.
Ali Wolf, chief economist at Zonda and NewHomeSource, says: “While investors don’t represent a large share of the market on a national level, a major policy shift would feel very different depending on the zip code and submarket. On a national scale, we wouldn’t expect a dramatic move in demand or pricing; however, in high-growth, affordable markets, the story changes.
We know that investors of all sizes have been highly active in the entry-level segment. If this activity dries up, local demand could certainly soften. Conversely, we might see ‘missing’ traditional buyers, those who have been sidelined by competition, re-enter the market once they feel they have a less crowded path to homeownership.”
