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President Trump Issues Executive Order on Institutional Investment in Single-Family Homes
In Short
The Situation: On January 20, 2026, President Trump issued an executive order ("EO"), "Stopping Wall Street from Competing with Main Street Homebuyers," which focuses on restricting large institutional investors from purchasing single-family homes.
The Result: The EO directs the Federal Housing Finance Agency ("FHFA") and other agencies to issue guidance limiting the availability of financing for institutional investment in single-family homes and to consider additional reforms, including tax disincentives and antitrust scrutiny.
Looking Ahead: The scope of these reforms remains in flux. The EO directs agencies to prepare definitions of the EO's own key terms, and it tasks White House staff with preparing legislative proposals, which would be further negotiated in Congress.
Background
On January 20, 2026, President Trump signed an EO taking aim at institutional investment in the single-family housing market, which the EO describes as "crowding out families seeking to buy homes." The EO directs agencies to develop guidance to cut off federal loan availability and other financial tools available to institutional investors in this market. It also instructs the Treasury secretary to review and revise existing rules, including the potential adoption of tax disincentives.
Key Provisions
Rather than pursuing an express ban on ownership of single-family homes by institutional investors or requiring specific regulatory actions, the EO tasks members of the administration to study the issues, develop guidance, prepare proposed legislation, and consider additional enforcement steps.
- The EO directs several agency heads—including the secretaries of Agriculture, Housing and Urban Development ("HUD"), and Veterans Affairs, as well as the GSA administrator and the FHFA director—to issue guidance limiting institutional investors' ability to acquire single-family properties. The EO also directs them to promote homeownership for owner-occupants through measures such as first-look policies, disclosure requirements, and restrictions on sales of federally owned homes to institutional investors. These agencies have the capability to meaningfully raise borrowing costs in connection with federally supported loans for single-family homes and limit government-sponsored enterprise participation in the bond market for securitized single-family home loans.
- The EO exempts "build-to-rent" developments that are "planned, permitted, financed, and constructed as rental communities." This exemption appears carefully crafted to exclude the construction of one-off single-family homes, as well as the acquisition of single-family residential neighborhoods in the development and pre-development stage, if those neighborhoods were not originally planned and permitted as rental communities.
- The EO instructs the Treasury secretary to pursue reforms, potentially including modification of tax rules applicable to real estate investment trusts or changes to the manner in which institutional purchasers are subject to tax with respect to their single-family home portfolios. It is not clear whether Treasury can implement necessary changes under existing authority or whether legislation will be required.
- The EO directs the attorney general and the FTC to scrutinize "substantial" acquisitions of single-family homes by large investors for potential anticompetitive effects and to prioritize antitrust law enforcement against institutional investors in the single-family home rental market, targeting coordinated strategies that stabilize or restrict output. The directive's force will largely depend on the definition of the relevant antitrust market—"single-family homes" in a "local single-family housing market," which the EO does not define.
- The EO directs HUD to require owners of single-family rental properties participating in federal housing assistance programs to disclose to HUD any direct or indirect owners, managers, or affiliates.
The EO also tasks White House staff to prepare legislative recommendations, signaling recognition that current law may not provide full scope to implement the EO's policies.
Upcoming Deadlines
The Treasury secretary is tasked with defining "large institutional investor" and "single-family home" within 30 days. The EO imposes a 60-day deadline for relevant agencies to issue guidance.
Three Key Takeaways
- Regulatory Guidance Over Mandates. The EO does not implement an outright ban, instead directing agencies to study and pursue reforms.
- Multi-Agency Effort. The EO coordinates action across Treasury, DOJ, FTC, HUD, and FHFA to discourage large institutional investors from acquiring and financing single-family homes.
- Signal for Congressional Action. The EO also directs White House staff to prepare legislative recommendations. If Congress moves to consider legislation on this topic, this will provide another occasion to consider the nature of institutional participation in the housing market and the potential dimensions and effects of a policy of exclusion.
