President Donald Trump wants to make homeownership the center of the American Dream once again. He’s now proposing a ban on “large institutional investors” purchasing single-family homes.
“For a very long time, buying and owning a home was considered the pinnacle of the American Dream. It was the reward for working hard, and doing the right thing, but now, because of the Record High Inflation caused by Joe Biden and the Democrats in Congress, that American Dream is increasingly out of reach for far too many people, especially younger Americans,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Wednesday.
“It is for that reason, and much more, that I am immediately taking steps to ban large institutional investors from buying more single-family homes, and I will be calling on Congress to codify it. People live in homes, not corporations,” he added.
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The president did not provide details on how or when the ban would be implemented. However, Trump said he would discuss the topic further in his upcoming speech at the annual World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos.
Wall Street institutions, such as Blackstone, have bought thousands of single-family homes since the 2008 financial crisis, according to Reuters.
The outlet noted that housing advocacy groups and Democrats have slammed the practice, blaming institutional landlords for rent inflation. Additionally, Reuters reported a drop in homebuilder shares in the wake of Trump’s comments. For example, American Homes 4 Rent dropped to a three-year low of $28.84 before trading was halted for volatility. Blackstone also saw its shares drop to a one-month low of $147.52.
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Redfin’s November 2025 national housing snapshot showed the median U.S. home sale price was about $433,214, representing a %0.7 year-over-year increase. Additionally, the November 2025 snapshot noted that 363,194 homes were sold that year, representing a 6.7% drop year-over-year.
At the same time, the Motley Fool found that in the U.S., the median household income in 2024 was $83,730, which it said was up 4% from the previous year.
In 2025, Redfin announced that its 2024 data showed a steep generational divide in homeownership. The real estate brokerage firm found that homeownership among Gen Z and millennials largely remained flat with the younger group going from 26.3% in 2023 to 26.1% in 2024 and the older generation going from 54.8% in 2023 to 54.9% in 2024. However, the firm noted that prior to 2024, “the millennial homeownership rate had increased each year since 2012.”
“We might expect the homeownership rate for millennials and Gen Zers to continue increasing because they’re in prime homebuying age, and many are getting married, starting families and settling into their careers. But many people in those generations have been unable to buy homes because sale prices and mortgage rates have soared over the last few years,” Redfin noted.
Meanwhile, Gen Xers saw their homeownership rate go from 72% in 2023 to 72.9% in 2024. Baby boomers also saw an uptick in their homeownership rate going from 78.8% in 2023 to 79.6% in 2024.
FOX Business reached out to Blackstone, American Homes 4 Rent, Invitation Homes Inc. and the White House for comment.
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