Jan 20 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday aiming to stop Wall Street investors from competing with individual homebuyers, the White House said.
"To preserve the supply of single-family homes for American families and increase the paths to homeownership, it is the policy of my Administration that large institutional investors should not buy single-family homes that could otherwise be purchased by families," Trump said in his order.
Trump, under pressure to address voter affordability concerns ahead of congressional elections this year, has recently pushed a number of major policy proposals aimed at boosting home ownership and reining in living costs.
Trump's order on Tuesday directs his administration to issue guidance within 60 days to impose restrictions on the sale of single-family homes, according to the text of the order released by the White House.
The order also calls for additional steps, including a direction to the Treasury secretary to review the rules and guidance that relate to large institutional investors acquiring or holding single-family homes and consider revising them.
The Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission "shall review substantial acquisitions, including series of acquisitions, by large institutional investors of single-family homes in local single-family housing markets for anti-competitive effects and prioritize enforcement of the antitrust laws, as appropriate, against coordinated vacancy and pricing strategies by large institutional investors in local single-family home rental markets," the order reads.
Wall Street institutions such as Blackstone BX.N, American Homes 4 Rent AMH.N and Progress Residential have bought thousands of single-family homes since the financial crisis of 2008 led to a wave of home foreclosures.
By June 2022, institutional investors owned around 450,000 homes, or about 3%, of all single-family rental homes nationally, according to a 2024 study by the Government Accountability Office.
A move by Trump to target Wall Street landlords would align him with Democrats, who for years have criticized corporate homebuying, claiming it has helped stoke housing costs, and have unsuccessfully pushed bills to crack down on the trend.
(Reporting by Ismail Shakil in Toronto; editing by Scott Malone)
