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On January 20, 2026, President Trump signed an executive order that sent ripples through the real estate industry. The goal? Stop institutional investors from gobbling up single-family homes and squeezing out everyday families trying to achieve the American Dream. As someone who works with buyers and sellers every single day here in the Tri-State area with Century 21, I can tell you this is a conversation I’ve been having with clients for years. Finally, someone at the federal level is paying attention. But here’s the thing: while this executive order is absolutely a step in the right direction, it’s only the first step. We’ve got a long way to go before we actually fix what’s broken in the housing market.
Let me be clear about what this order actually does, because there’s been a lot of confusion and maybe even some overhyped headlines. The executive order doesn’t outright ban institutional investors from buying homes. What it does is limit conventional mortgage guarantees backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for these types of purchases. In plain English, that means big investment firms can’t use federally-backed financing to buy up single-family homes anymore. If they want to keep buying, they’ll need to find other ways to finance those deals or pay cash. And here’s where it gets interesting, because the order includes some pretty significant exceptions. Build-to-rent properties that are planned, permitted, financed, and constructed specifically as rental communities get a pass. So, we’re not talking about stopping all investor activity. We’re talking about creating some guardrails.
Now, why does any of this matter? If you’ve been house hunting in the last few years, you already know the answer. I’ve had countless buyers come to me frustrated, exhausted, and frankly heartbroken because they keep getting outbid by cash offers from investment companies. These aren’t your typical landlords who own a few rental properties. These are massive institutional investors, sometimes backed by Wall Street money, who can swoop in with all-cash offers that regular families just can’t compete with. When a first-time buyer needs financing and an inspection period and maybe a little time to think things over, they’re at a massive disadvantage against an investor who can close in a week with no contingencies. It’s not a fair fight, and families have been losing that fight for years now.
As a listing agent, I see this play out from the other side too. Sellers often love these investor offers because they’re clean, they’re fast, and there’s less risk of the deal falling through. I get it. But what we’re doing, collectively, is turning single-family homes into investment commodities instead of places where families build their lives. We’re watching neighborhoods change character. We’re seeing homeownership rates decline. We’re creating a renter class in communities that used to be filled with homeowners who had a stake in the neighborhood. The long-term consequences of that shift are real, and they’re not good for community stability or wealth-building for average Americans.
So yes, I’m glad the President signed this order. It acknowledges a problem that’s been festering for years. It sends a message that policy makers understand families are getting squeezed out. It’s a signal that maybe, just maybe, we’re going to prioritize homeownership for people who actually want to live in these homes over profits for distant investors. That matters. Symbolically and practically, it matters.
But let’s talk about the limitations, because they’re significant. First and most obvious, this order only affects investors who were planning to use Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac-backed financing anyway. Any investor with enough cash or access to alternative financing can keep doing exactly what they’ve been doing. And let’s be real, the big institutional players? They’ve got cash. They’ve got access to private equity. They’ve got credit lines that don’t depend on federal mortgage guarantees. For them, this might be an inconvenience or it might require some restructuring, but it’s not a brick wall. The order also doesn’t specify geographic focus. It doesn’t define how much control one entity can have over properties through partial ownership arrangements. It doesn’t require beneficial ownership information to be reported for for-profit entities. There are holes big enough to drive a truck through.
The executive order also kicks the can down the road in some important ways. It directs officials, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Kevin Hassett, to come up with specific policies within 30 days. They need to define what qualifies as a “large institutional investor” and even what counts as a “single family home.” Those definitions matter enormously. Draw the lines too narrowly and you’ve accomplished nothing. Draw them too broadly and you might accidentally catch small landlords or local investors who aren’t part of the problem. Getting those definitions right is going to be critical, and we won’t know how effective this order really is until we see those details.
There’s also the enforcement piece. The order directs the Attorney General and the FTC to review acquisitions for anti-competitive practices and to prioritize enforcement against coordinated vacancy and pricing strategies in single-family rental markets. That’s great in theory. But enforcement requires resources, attention, and political will. It’s one thing to write an order. It’s another thing entirely to make sure someone’s actually watching and acting when these companies find workarounds or push the boundaries of what’s allowed.
Critics have already come out saying this policy won’t meaningfully improve housing affordability because it interferes with market forces without addressing the actual housing shortage. And look, they’re not entirely wrong. You can limit who buys homes all you want, but if there aren’t enough homes being built, prices are still going to be high. The fundamental problem in most markets, including right here in the Tri-State, is that we don’t have enough inventory. We’ve been underbuilding housing for over a decade. We’ve got zoning restrictions that make it hard to build affordable housing. We’ve got construction costs that have skyrocketed. We’ve got labor shortages in the trades. Limiting institutional investors doesn’t build a single new home.
So where does that leave us? I think this executive order is a good start, but it’s exactly that, a start. What we really need is a comprehensive approach to housing that tackles the problem from multiple angles. We need to keep institutional investors from distorting the market, yes. But we also need to make it easier and cheaper to build new housing. We need zoning reform that allows for more density and more variety in housing types. We need incentives for builders to create starter homes that first-time buyers can actually afford. We need to address the cost of materials and labor. We need local governments to streamline permitting processes. We need to think creatively about manufactured housing and accessory dwelling units and all the other tools we have available.
We also need to have an honest conversation about what kind of communities we want. Do we want neighborhoods of homeowners who are invested in their streets and their schools and their local businesses? Or are we okay with neighborhoods that are increasingly dominated by rental properties owned by faceless corporations in another state? There’s no wrong answer necessarily, but the choice we make will shape what American communities look like for the next generation. I know which one I prefer, and I think most of the families I work with prefer it too.
From my perspective as someone who lists and sells homes for a living in this market, I can tell you that anything that helps level the playing field for regular buyers is welcome. I want to help families find homes, not watch them get outbid again and again by investors. I want to see young couples buy their first house and build equity. I want to see people put down roots. That’s what got me into real estate in the first place. So yes, I’m encouraged by this executive order. I think it shows that someone’s listening. But I’m also realistic. This is one tool in what needs to be a much bigger toolbox. We’ve got work to do, and that work is going to require action at every level, federal, state, and local. It’s going to require builders and developers and real estate professionals and policy makers all pulling in the same direction.
The housing crisis didn’t happen overnight, and it’s not going to be solved overnight either. But I’m optimistic that we’re finally having the right conversations. I’m hopeful that this executive order is the beginning of a broader push to make homeownership accessible again for the families who need it most. And I’m committed, both personally and through my work here at Century 21, to being part of the solution. If you’re trying to navigate this market, whether you’re buying or selling, I’m here to help you understand what these changes mean for you. Because at the end of the day, that’s what matters: real people, real families, and real homes.
