President Restricts Institutional Investor Purchases of Single-Family Homes

President Trump signed an Executive Order ("EO") aimed at restricting "large institutional investors" from purchasing single-family homes. 

The EO directs the Treasury Secretary to define "large institutional investor" and "single-family home" within 30 days. The stated policy goal is to prevent corporate interests from "crowding out" families seeking to build wealth through homeownership, particularly in the context of high inflation and interest rates.

The EO directs several agencies—including the USDA, HUD, the VA, and the FHFA—to issue guidance within 60 days prohibiting federal entities and Government-sponsored enterprises from facilitating the acquisition of single-family homes by large investors. This includes restrictions on disposing of federal assets to such investors. The agencies must instead promote sales to individual owner-occupants through mechanisms like "first-look" policies, though the EO allows narrow exceptions for "build-to-rent" communities.

Under the EO, the Attorney General and the FTC Chairman must review substantial acquisitions by large investors for anti-competitive effects and prioritize antitrust enforcement against coordinated rental pricing strategies. The EO further directs the Treasury Secretary to review applicable rules on institutional homeownership and calls for legislative recommendations to codify these restrictions.