Trump Moves to Block Wall Street From Buying Single-Family Homes With Sweeping New Order

President Donald Trump has signed a sweeping executive order titled “Stopping Wall Street from Competing with Main Street Homebuyers,” targeting large institutional investors that have been buying up single-family homes across the United States. The move is framed by the White House as a major step to make housing more affordable for families by pushing Wall Street out of the starter-home market.

Trump signs housing affordability order

President Trump signed the order on January 20, directing his administration to move against Wall Street–backed firms and private equity funds that acquire single-family homes, often in bulk, and convert them to rentals. The order declares that it is the policy of the administration that “large institutional investors should not acquire single-family homes that families could otherwise buy,” elevating this stance to an official federal priority.

Trump says years of inflation, high interest rates and aggressive corporate buying have pushed the “pinnacle of the American dream” – homeownership – out of reach for many Americans, especially younger and first-time buyers. He argues that neighborhoods once owned and managed by middle-class families are increasingly “dominated by distant corporate interests,” insisting that “people live in homes, not corporations.”

The order does not instantly ban institutional homebuying, but it sets in motion a rapid, multi-agency process to restrict it. Key steps include:

• Treasury review: The Treasury Secretary is instructed to review existing rules and guidance related to large institutional investors that acquire or hold single-family homes and to recommend changes that would limit those purchases and steer properties toward individual buyers.

• 60‑day guidance: Federal housing and finance agencies must issue guidance within about 60 days to restrict the sale of single-family homes to large institutional investors when those homes could go to families instead.

• Antitrust scrutiny: The Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission are ordered to examine “substantial” multi‑home acquisitions by big investors in local markets for anti‑competitive effects and to prioritize enforcement against coordinated vacancy or rent‑setting tactics in single-family rental markets.

The order also directs the Department of Housing and Urban Development to require landlords in federal housing assistance programs to disclose ownership and management information, helping officials identify large institutional players in the single‑family rental space. At the same time, it allows “narrowly tailored” exceptions for build‑to‑rent communities that are planned and financed as rental developments, aiming not to derail legitimate new rental construction.

Political stakes and Wall Street impact

The move lands as housing affordability has become a top political issue heading into this year’s congressional contests, with voters frustrated by high prices and limited inventory. By taking aim at Wall Street landlords, Trump is highlighting a bipartisan target: institutional buyers that some housing advocates and lawmakers blame for crowding out first-time homebuyers in certain markets.

The White House says the order fulfills Trump’s promise to “immediately” begin steps to ban large institutional investors from buying more single-family homes and indicates that the administration will send Congress legislation to codify those limits. Analysts caution, however, that the real impact will depend on how aggressively agencies implement the order, how “large institutional investor” is defined, and whether sweeping restricts