President Donald Trump speaks during the House Republican Party subordinate retreat astatine the Kennedy Center successful Washington, Jan. 6, 2026.
Mandel Ngan | AFP | Getty Images
President Donald Trump's renewed absorption connected lodging affordability has recovered a wide villain: organization investors that ain ample swaths of single-family homes successful fast-growing Sun Belt cities, wherever would-be homeowners progressively find themselves bidding against Wall Street.
Trump argued successful a societal media station Wednesday that corporate ownership has helped propulsion lodging further retired of scope for mundane Americans, saying he's immediately taking steps to prohibition ample organization investors from buying much single-family homes.
The connection whitethorn beryllium aimed astatine places similar Atlanta and Jacksonville, metropolitan areas wherever capitalist ownership is acold higher than the nationalist average.
While organization investors lone ain astir 2% of the nation's single-family rental lodging stock, their beingness is acold much concentrated successful parts of the Southeast. The U.S. Government Accountability Office estimates, for example, that investors power astir a 4th of Atlanta's single-family rental market, much than a 5th of Jacksonville's and sizable shares successful Charlotte and Tampa.
Wall Street goes buying successful the Sun Belt
Those concentrations hint backmost to the aftermath of the fiscal crisis, erstwhile ample investors moved aggressively into lodging markets flooded with foreclosures. By buying homes successful bulk, they helped stabilize prices successful hard-hit regions experiencing crisp declines, peculiarly crossed the Sun Belt, according to Wolfe Research.
"While their wide footprint is limited, ownership is heavy concentrated successful Sun Belt cities, apt reflecting expectations of stronger location terms appreciation," analysts astatine Wolfe said successful a caller enactment to clients.
The thought of curbing Wall Street's relation successful lodging isn't new. Analysts astatine BTIG enactment that Congress has seen aggregate efforts successful caller years to rein successful organization homeownership, ranging from tighter regulations and financing limits to outright ownership bans and adjacent forced liquidations.
"Bureaucratic limitations person historically hindered the authorities successful Congress, and arsenic it stands present astir bills stay successful the 'Introduced' phase," BTIG said successful a note.
Trump did not supply details connected however specified a prohibition would beryllium implemented. The president said helium plans to outline further lodging and affordability proposals successful a code astatine the World Economic Forum successful Davos successful 2 weeks.
— CNBC's Michael Bloom contributed reporting.
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