Build-to-rent is exempt from White House’s order to 'ban' institutional homebuying

Back on January 7, President Donald Trump announced 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.”

On Thursday, Trump signed an order outlining his preliminary “ban.” The White House says it intends to pursue legislation to codify the policies into law.

Within 30 days, the order requires Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to define "large institutional investors.”

The order then directs multiple federal agencies—including the Treasury Department, HUD, the Department of Agriculture, the VA, GSA, and the Federal Housing Finance Agency—to issue guidance within 60 days limiting the federal government’s role in facilitating institutional purchases of single-family homes that could otherwise be bought by owner-occupants.

Then within 60 days, government agencies (VA and FHA) and government-sponsored enterprises (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) won’t be allowed to approve, insure, guarantee, or securitize SFH purchases by "large institutional investors."

In other words, the order doesn’t ban institutional homebuying—or force large landlords to sell off their existing portfolios—but instead seeks to restrict their access to federally backed financing and other forms of government support when acquiring single-family homes.

The order does have an exception: Build-to-rent.

Here’s one preliminary industry take on the order:

At the height of the Pandemic Housing Boom, large investors—those owning at least 100 single-family homes—made up an all-time high of 3.1% of home purchases in Q2 2022, according to John Burns Research and Consulting. That period, at the tail end of the boom, was when yields were particularly attractive as borrowing costs were ultra-low, home prices were soaring, and rents were climbing rapidly. However, since mortgage rates spiked and capital markets shifted, their share has fallen to around 1.0% of transactions over the past three years. The math isn’t as favorable right now.

Regardless of how you define institutional landlords, the single-family rental market is still dominated by mom-and-pop landlords. According to JBREC, 76.6% of single-family rentals are owned by landlords who hold between 1 and 9 properties.

On a national level, “large investors”—those owning at least 100 single-family homes—only own around 1% of total single-family housing stock (NOTE: the share in the chart above is higher because it shows the share of just single-family rentals). That said, in a handful of regional housing markets, institutional and large single-family landlords have a much larger presence.

Markets like Phoenix and Atlanta became major hubs for institutional single-family rental investment following the 2008 housing crash as the asset class started to institutionalize. Firms such as Invitation Homes, Progress Residential, and AMH built sizable portfolios in these metros by acquiring distressed homes. That early activity helped establish a reliable local SFR ecosystem—including property management firms, leasing infrastructure, and contractor networks—that makes it easier to scale and expand single-family rental and build-to-rent operations today.

Looking ahead, it’s expected that the White House will announce more housing policies this week. We’ll make sure to keep you updated.