President Donald Trump’s bid to block large investors from buying single-family homes is running into resistance on Capitol Hill, putting one of his headline housing ideas on hold even as affordability pressures mount for many Americans.
The White House has been pressing congressional Republicans to graft an investor ban onto major housing packages moving through the House and Senate, according to people familiar with the talks who spoke with the Wall Street Journal. Lawmakers in both chambers, however, have reportedly balked at attaching the measure, warning it could fracture the fragile bipartisan support behind bills aimed at boosting housing supply.
In the House, Financial Services Committee chair French Hill of Arkansas rejected a request to add the ban to the Housing for the 21st Century Act, an omnibus proposal focused on streamlining approvals and encouraging new construction. Instead, the committee scheduled a separate hearing to review three standalone investor-ban bills authored by House members, underscoring how divisive the idea has become within the Republican caucus.
Hill’s panel had already spent months forging what he described as “tremendous consensus” around a supply-side package before Trump's executive order last month targeting large buyers of single-family homes. Lawmakers say the administration still has not clearly defined what counts as a “large institutional investor” or even which properties would be covered, raising concerns about unintended consequences for smaller landlords and regional players.
Philosophical objections are just as strong. Many Republicans on the Financial Services Committee view an outright ban as a sharp break from free-market principles and property rights. A similar dynamic is emerging in the Senate, where any Trump-backed amendment to the ROAD to Housing Act would need GOP support to move forward.
The standoff highlights a broader split between Congress and the White House over how to tackle a housing crunch that drove sales last year to a 30-year low and pushed home values more than 50% above 2019 levels. Lawmakers in both parties have gravitated toward supply measures, such as zoning incentives and support for new construction near transit. Trump, by contrast, has repeatedly signaled he does not want policy changes that risk pulling prices down.
“I don’t want to drive housing prices down. I want to drive housing prices up for people that own their homes, and they can be assured that’s what’s going to happen,” Trump told his Cabinet on Jan. 29, according to the Associated Press.
At the same time, the president has been under pressure to speak to younger voters squeezed by higher borrowing costs and limited inventory. His January executive order declared that “large institutional investors should not buy single-family homes that could otherwise be purchased by families,” directing agencies to draft guidance restricting such purchases and ordering the Treasury Department, Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission to scrutinize big home-buying programs and potential anti-competitive behavior.
Polling cited by the White House indicates broad voter support for tighter rules on corporate landlords, especially among younger adults who have struggled to buy. Republicans worry that siding too visibly with Wall Street landlords could alienate under-40 voters who were critical to Trump’s 2024 re-election, while a crackdown risks unnerving donors and clients in real estate and private equity.
Some Republicans have lined up behind the president’s approach. Ohio senator Bernie Moreno said he would lead efforts to draft legislation codifying the ban. Indiana representative Marlin Stutzman, who has introduced his own bill after praising the proposal in a letter to Trump, acknowledged the internal friction but argued the White House is unlikely to let the issue drop.
“There’s been some pushback,” said Stutzman. “But the president thinks it’s important.”
Regardless federal-level resolve, making American housing affordable again may be easier said than done. According to Edward Pinto, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a boom in the US economy this year could lead to higher housing demand. For average home price gains to stay flat over the next three years, there'd have to be a 50% to 100% increase in single-family home building over the next three years.
"It’s very hard to crater home prices," Pinto told the AP.
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