Trump says he’s banning institutional investors from scooping up single-family homes

President Trump said Wednesday he will seek to ban “large institutional investors” from buying and then renting out single-family homes — addressing a longstanding affordability concern.

Trump did not say exactly how his plan would work, but it represents a major new initiative to lower the cost of buying property — alongside his pressure on the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates and calls to streamline construction rules.

“For a very long time, buying and owning a home was considered the pinnacle of the American Dream. It was the reward for working hard, and doing the right thing, but now, because of the Record High Inflation caused by Joe Biden and the Democrats in Congress, that American Dream is increasingly out of reach for far too many people, especially younger Americans,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“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. I will discuss this topic, including further Housing and Affordability proposals, and more, at my speech in Davos in two weeks.”

Major investment firms such as BlackRock controversially have invested in housing in recent years — in some instances scooping up entire subdivisions of what historically would be starter homes.

Trump has sought to blunt Democrats’ election-year criticism of his economic records with a number of other proposal intended to lower costs — including using tariff threats to pressure pharmaceutical companies to lower their prices and vowing to do the same with oil and health insurance firms.