Wall Street-backed landlords a target for both Trump and Democrats

""We looked at over 80 homes in probably a span of two months," she said. The couple was in a tight spot. They had three kids and were forced to move because their landlord was selling their rental. That pressure made their search all the more frustrating. "We would pull up to a house, our agent would get out and be like, 'There's 10 additional offers, sight unseen, all cash.' Typically that means it's an investor," Maxwell recalled."

"The couple, who eventually found a place, was one of many whose path to homeownership was stymied by a nationwide surge of institutional investors, then driven by record-low mortgage rates, snapping up single-family homes to rent out. It's an issue that President Trump now aims to take on. In a recent social media post, he said he wants to "ban large institutional investors from buying more single-family homes," to help bring down housing costs."

""We have neighborhoods today that are now creeping up to 35, 38% of the homes have been purchased for investment purposes," he said. It got so bad, he recalled, that one of his employees who was house hunting sent letters to homeowners, explaining that they were going to work for the city "and would they please consider allowing them to buy the home" instead of an institutional investor."

A surge of institutional investors purchased single-family homes nationwide, fueled by record-low mortgage rates, reducing opportunities for individual buyers and tightening the housing market. Many families faced all-cash, sight-unseen offers from investors, intensifying competition and displacing potential homeowners. Political responses have included calls to ban large institutional purchases and local policies to cap rental percentages in neighborhoods. Some local officials reported investor ownership reaching roughly a third of homes in certain areas, triggering outreach and proposed limits. Economists warn that the connection between investor-owned homes and overall price increases is complex and not solely causal.

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