President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he wants to bar large corporations from purchasing single-family housing stock as part of his new affordable housing agenda.
“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,” Trump said in a lengthy Truth Social post on Wednesday. “People live in homes, not corporations.”
Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno , a member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs committee, wasted no time in announcing his plans to introduce legislation in response to the Trump administration’s proposal.
“Millions of young Americans have been locked out of the American Dream, @realDonaldTrump is finally fighting back,” Moreno posted to X in response to Trump’s post. “I will introduce legislation in the Senate to codify this into law.”
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In the House, Republican Rep. Riley Moore, a member of the Appropriations committee, praised the announcement.
“This is huge. Owning a home is the cornerstone of the American dream,” Moore posted to X. “Big institutional investors are now driving young people out of the housing market. Without the ability to buy a home, young people delay getting married, having a family, and plugging into their community.”
The White House did not give any details about how such a ban would go into effect.
Stock market prices for real estate and investment companies immediately fell in response to the announcement, according to reporting by CNBC. Shares of Invitation Homes, the largest renter of single-family homes in the country, fell 7%, while shares of Blackstone, an investing firm that owns and rents single-family homes and is a major supporter of Trump, dropped 4%. Shares of other major real estate institutional investors also fell on Wednesday, including Apollo Global Management and BlackRock.
In response to the president’s proposal, several Democrats pointed out the similarities between Trump’s single-family home ban and previous legislation introduced by Democrats.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, ranking member of the Senate housing committee, said “I’ve been advocating for years to limit Wall Street from buying up America’s homes.”
“Enough talk — Trump should start with getting his own party in the House to support a bipartisan bill to bring down housing costs that passed the Senate unanimously,” Warren continued. “And Congress should work on legislation to stop corporate investors from buying up homes.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer concurred in a post to social media.
“Senate Democrats tried to do this last year. Republicans blocked it,” Schumer posted to X.
“BREAKING: Trump backs major Democratic policy position,” Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz posted to X. “This is good news. Now, Trump has to follow through and avoid yet another broken promise.”
Trump is expected to announce a host of other housing proposals at a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, later this month. In a televised address on Dec. 17, Trump teased, “In the new year, I will announce some of the most aggressive housing reform plans in American history.”
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