The number of single-family homes owned by large private investors today in the U.S. is relatively low. In 2023, Brookings estimated private equity firms own 3 percent of the total single-family rental
market. But by 2030, according to MetLife, approximately 7.6 million single-family rental homes, or 40 percent of the market, could be owned by large investors. And if that happens, the country’s affordability crisis will worsen, by a lot.
A recent post by President Trump indicates the White House may crack down on private equity firms in the single-family housing market. Trump said he is “immediately taking steps to ban large institutional investors from buying more single-family homes” and that “he will be calling on Congress to codify” legislation he proposes. Trump said: “I will discuss this topic, including further Housing and Affordability proposals, and more, at my speech in Davos in two weeks,” at the World Economic Forum.
Trump blamed the Biden administration for “record high inflation” that inhibits home ownership. (He made no mention of the fact that it was President Biden who proposed legislation in 2023 to levy hefty taxes on private equity firms in the single-family housing market.) After the post, shares in private equity firms that own large amounts of single-family homes dropped. Invitation Homes lost 6 percent, according to CNBC. Blackstone shares dropped 5 percent, and Apollo Global Management also 5 percent.
National Housing Law Project (NHLP) executive director Shamus Roller told AN: “I think it’s mostly a distraction from the fact that the Trump administration has cut so many housing protections and programs at the national level,” he said after the post. “The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has been practically dismantled.”
“I think the Trump administration is also trying to distract from the fact import taxes on construction materials are having a significant impact on the cost of housing, and so is the deportation of really badly needed construction workers. These are two really big factors firmly within the control of the President,” he noted. “I do think that institutional investors and corporate owners of real estate is an area for policy reform, but I doubt that the President is actually serious about it.”
The Affordability Crisis
Homeownership rates are currently at their lowest since 1965 according to the American Bankruptcy Institute, which tracks foreclosures. Since 2007, many single-family homes have been converted by hedge funds into rentals. This phenomena hikes up housing costs by reducing the amount of stock on the market and thereby creating scarcity.
According to the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission, hedge funds engage in illegal information sharing and price fixing. Furthermore, an independent inquiry conducted by DOJ concluded that landlords and equity firms “collude on pricing to inflate rents,” a clear violation of antitrust laws.
Single-family housing became a hot commodity for investors after the subprime mortgage crisis in 2008. Private equity firms like Blackstone—a hedge fund which credits itself as the world’s largest commercial property owner—gobbled up “large stocks of cheap, favorably located urban housing” throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and Latin America.
In turn, a wave of “aggressive evictions” ensued, according to the housing advisor of the United Nations (UN), creating an affordability crisis. In his memoir, Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman enthusiastically described the recession as an “unprecedented” opportunity.
Leilani Farha and Surya Deva, co-authors of a peer-reviewed white paper which addressed the issue, concluded that the “financialization” of housing around the world had put homeownership “beyond the reach of all but the rich, breaking up established communities, and fuelling soaring rents and evictions.”
Reversing Course
To reverse course and help lift renters into the homeowner class, Minnesota lawmakers proposed HF685, a bill that would prohibit hedge funds from converting single-family homes into rentals. Grassroots movements have also formed in Minneapolis like OccupyHomesMN, a mutual aid network which steps in when tenants are set for eviction.
Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley and Representative Adam Smith in 2023 introduced the End Hedge Fund Control of American Homes Act. This bill would pressure private equity firms to divest from single-family housing over the next decade, and hedge funds would be banned from owning over 50 homes. Firms which don’t comply would be taxed $50,000 for each excess home, and that taxation would support a “new housing trust fund for downpayment assistance” for aspiring homeowners.
The Merkley/Smith bill would also crack down on hedge funds who open LLCs to buy properties. Senator Merkley told reporters “LLC transparency is a key piece of the puzzle to ensuring houses in our communities are homes for families, not profit centers for Wall Street.”
More recently, in February 2025, New York Governor Hochul proposed legislation that disincentivizes large investors from buying 1- and 2-family homes. Hochul’s legislation would “require a 75-day waiting period before institutional investors that own 10 or more single- and two-family properties and have $50 million in assets can make an offer on or buy 1- or 2-family homes.”
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