On Jan. 20, President Trump issued an executive order preventing large institutional investors from purchasing single-family homes in the United States. The order is intended to support housing affordability nationwide.
President Trump ordered the White House to prepare legislative recommendations for Congress to consider codifying so large institutional investors do not acquire single-family homes. He stated that this order is intended to preserve the supply of single-family homes for American families and increase the paths to homeownership, and that it is the policy of his Administration that large institutional investors should not buy single-family homes that could otherwise be purchased by families. Housing analysts are currently assessing whether a ban of this scale would materially improve housing affordability in the United States.
This executive order also includes the following directives:
- Directs key agencies to issue guidance preventing relevant federal programs from approving, insuring, guaranteeing, securitizing, or facilitating sales of single-family homes to institutional investors.
- Instructs key agencies to promote sales to individual owner-occupants through first-look policies. These policies give individuals and other noninstitutional investors the opportunity to buy foreclosed properties before investors do, disclosure requirements, and anti-circumvention measures.
- Directs the secretary of the treasury to review rules and guidance that relate to large institutional investors acquiring or holding single-family homes.
- Directs the attorney general and the chairman of the Federal Trade Commission to review acquisitions by large institutional investors for anticompetitive practices and prioritize enforcement against certain practices by institutional investors in the single-family home rental market.
- Directs the secretary of housing and urban development to identify potential large institutional investors involved in federal housing assistance programs by demanding disclosure of ownership in single-family rentals.
- Tasks the White House to prepare legislative recommendations to codify these policies so that large institutional investors do not acquire single-family homes.
For years, CAI has monitored the impact of purchases by investors and real estate investment trusts on single-family homeowners associations and condominium associations. Legislation is periodically introduced in state legislatures limit an association’s ability to reasonably regulate or restrict these purchases. CAI opposes this concept as it limits community associations’ ability to self-govern. These bills historically were pushed by Wall Street investor companies, including REITs.
Homeownership is central to the American dream, but since 2018 more Americans have rented rather than owned their homes, a shift widely linked to the 2007–2010 foreclosure crisis. In response to widespread vacancies and neighborhood blight, government-backed entities sold hundreds of thousands of foreclosed homes, often at discounted prices, to large investors, enabling rapid conversion to single-family rentals rather than owner-occupied housing in community associations.
This approach contributed to a significant transfer of housing assets from middle-class families to large investment firms, establishing a lasting single-family rental market. By the early 2020s, a relatively small number of large investors controlled hundreds of thousands of homes nationwide. The situation caused competition against individual buyers with investors often outbidding individuals with cash offers. These developments highlight the complex and far-reaching effects of investor ownership on housing affordability, neighborhood stability, and long-term access to homeownership.
CAI’s Federal Legislative Action Committee is analyzing this executive order and evaluating potential impacts and next steps for the community association housing model. To learn more about long-term corporate and investor-owned rentals in community associations, read CAI’s white paper here.
