Trump goes after institutional home buyers who dominate some Sun Belt markets
President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting of House Republicans at the Kennedy Center in Washington on January 6, 2026.
Mandel Ngan | AFP | Getty Images
President Donald Trump’s renewed focus on housing affordability has found a clear villain: institutional investors who own large tracts of single-family homes in fast-growing Sun Belt cities, where aspiring homeowners increasingly find themselves bidding against Wall Street.
In a social media post Wednesday, Trump argued that corporate ownership is helping to make housing even more out of reach for ordinary Americans and said he would take immediate steps to ban large institutional investors from buying more single-family homes.
The message may be aimed at metro areas like Atlanta and Jacksonville, where investor ownership is well above the national average.
While institutional investors own only 2% of the nation’s single-family rental housing stock, their presence is much more concentrated in parts of the Southeast. US Government Accountability Office For example, investors are estimated to control nearly a quarter of Atlanta’s single-family rental market, more than a fifth of Jacksonville and significant stakes in Charlotte and Tampa.
Wall Street goes shopping in the Sun Belt
The origins of these concentrations date back to the aftermath of the financial crisis, when large investors aggressively moved into foreclosure-ridden housing markets. By buying homes in bulk, they have helped stabilize prices in hard-hit areas that have experienced steep declines, especially the Sun Belt, according to Wolfe Research.
“While the overall footprint is limited, ownership remains heavily concentrated in Sun Belt cities, likely reflecting expectations for stronger home price growth,” analysts at Wolfe wrote in a recent note to clients. he said.
The idea of restricting Wall Street’s role in the housing industry is not new. Analysts at BTIG note that Congress has seen numerous efforts to rein in corporate home ownership in recent years, from tighter regulations and funding caps to outright ownership bans and even forced divestments.
“Bureaucratic constraints have historically blocked legislation in Congress, and most bills currently remain in the ‘Introduction’ stage,” BTIG wrote in a note. he said.
Trump did not provide details on how such a ban would be implemented. The president said he plans to outline additional housing and affordability proposals in a speech to the World Economic Forum in Davos in two weeks.
— CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed reporting.
