Trump wants to ban institutional investors from purchasing single-family homes

President Donald Trump said in a statement on social media that he is moving to ban institutional investors from buying single-family homes and that he wants Congress to "codify" the ban into law.

The president has made easing the housing crisis a goal of his second term, and many have pointed to institutional investors as a large source of the problem.

'People live in homes, not corporations.'

In a post on Truth Social Wednesday, Trump mentioned banning institutional housing purchases and hinted at other solutions to ease the housing crisis.

"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," he wrote.

"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," the president added. "People live in homes, not corporations."

Trump did not provide details about these "steps" in the post.

He went on to say that he would discuss the policy at a speech in Davos, Switzerland, during the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum.

Housing prices skyrocketed during the pandemic, when interest rates were lowered to encourage economic activity and many Americans moved to larger homes to take advantage of work-from-home policies. While interest rates have returned to historic averages, housing prices continued to climb, albeit at a slower pace.

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Many have blamed companies like BlackRock for purchasing single-family homes as part of their investment portfolios, but some say institutional investors make up a small portion of the market.

Others say that encouraging more housing construction would lower housing costs by easing regulations and increasing supply to meet the demand.

An email to Blaze News from a spokesperson for BlackRock denied that the hedge fund owned any single family homes and linked to their statement online about the issue.

"A number of other large asset managers and private equity firms are very active today in purchasing single-family residences. BlackRock is sometimes confused with them," the statement reads. "As a fiduciary asset manager, we invest and manage capital on behalf of our clients in a vast array of public and private U.S. real estate markets — but buying individual homes is not one of them."

The company also referenced an Investopedia report saying many confuse BlackRock with BlackStone, which purchased housing stock after the 2008 financial meltdown.

BlackRock's stock slid by 2.3% in the wake of the announcement.

Editor’s note: This article has been edited after publication to include a statement from BlackRock and to remove the company's name from the headline.

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