Overview
- During the State of the Union, President Trump urged lawmakers to make permanent his January executive order that directs agencies not to finance or facilitate large institutional purchases of single-family homes and flags such activity for antitrust scrutiny.
- Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren and Jeff Merkley introduced a bill to strip depreciation and mortgage‑interest deductions from entities owning 50 or more homes and to bar some investor purchases of federally foreclosed properties.
- Institutional owners hold a small national share of single‑family rentals—about 2% to 4%—but their footprint is far larger in certain metros, including roughly 28% in Atlanta, 20% in Charlotte and 9% in Houston, according to Urban Institute data.
- Experts across the industry say investor curbs alone will not materially lower prices, pointing to an estimated need for millions of additional homes, including Goldman Sachs’ projection of up to 4 million beyond normal construction.
- Trump spotlighted lower mortgage costs and previously directed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to buy $200 billion in mortgage‑backed securities, though some outlets challenged his claim that a typical new mortgage’s annual cost is down nearly $5,000.