The ranking member of the House of Representatives’ Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance is finding fault with President Trump’s proposal to ban institutional investors from buying single-family homes.
In an interview with the Washington Examiner, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO) questioned whether the government had a right to determine who could purchase residential properties.
“I don’t know whether or not we should get into telling who can buy single-family or multifamily housing, you know?” Cleaver said. “I mean, I probably sound like a Republican, but … I don’t want to get into trying to dictate who can buy what in the United States.”
The details of Trump’s plan have yet to be made public, but Cleaver wondered if the president was focused on the wrong issue. The congressman noted the main problem impacting affordable homeownership was the lack of inventory, not the encroachment of institutional investors.
“The problem of the lack of sufficient, affordable, and decent housing is not necessarily being impacted by corporate entities,” Cleaver said, noting that institutional investors acquired less than 2% of all homes. “So that’s not a crisis.”
Cleaver nonetheless commended the White House for taking a new look at housing issues.
“I’m glad that the president said that, because now I have at least some hope that the interest of the White House is similar to the interests of those of us who would like to see an expansion of available, decent, affordable housing,” Cleaver said.
Photo courtesy of Rep. Cleaver’s Instagram page
This is true, the impact of institutional investors on the market has been grossly exaggerated and no doubt Trump is touting this ‘populist ‘ policy for his own political reasons.
This Rep. Cleaver is entirely wrong!! When did a monopoly have the right to buy up properties that ordinary citizens could no longer have any access, except as a rental???
Why is HUD not involved in coming up with some concrete plans for housing. There should be a credible housing appointment for this issue. Neither side is taking the housing issue very seriously.
Someone should investigate whether this Democrat is on the “take” or not. You think that holding 65% of available housing as rentals is a good idea???? I fully support Trump in putting a stop to this awful process. Biden allowed it, and prices rose like crazy because of the lack of inventory.
Are you happy with an over-priced market? Are you happy with the lack of inventory? This is not how the US kept a balance for future growth for its citizens. The system has to be corrected.
It is time first time homebuyers have a chance at the under 300,000 price range instead of battling against investors. We should go back to the no investor purchase of single families for 30 days after listing.
The iBuyer’s paid more for homes than what they were worth starting mid 2020 through the end of 2022. They sold many of these at a loss out the back door to Institutional Landlords. They lost millions of dollars per quarter and did not care. Afterall some had billions invested into “taking over the market”. In major metro areas as much as 40% of homes were purchased this way with many never coming on the market to buy. They are savvy buyer’s a term that used to mean something in commercial real estate. Their spiel is deceptive as their closing costs rival that of commissions. They do offer convenience, however the cost of this convenience has cost everyone.
I believe 10% to 11% of residential units are owned by other than individual families.