President Donald Trump on Tuesday issued an executive order that aims to prevent Wall Street landlords from buying up single-family homes — an unexpectedly progressive response to institutional investors’ dominance in housing markets nationwide, particularly for entry-level homes.
Atlanta is one of the housing markets most affected by institutional homebuying: Corporations own more than half of the houses in over 300 metro Atlanta census tracts. Trump’s order aims to curb investor-driven price pressures on local housing markets and prioritize individual homeownership. But its real-world impact — and enforceability — remains uncertain.
“My administration will take decisive action to stop Wall Street from treating America’s neighborhoods like a trading floor and empower American families to own their homes,” the Jan. 20 executive order says. That includes defining “large institutional investor” and “single-family home” within 30 days of its issuance, restricting federal support for big investors purchasing single-family homes within 60 days, and proposing federal legislation to limit institutional investors’ reach into US housing markets.
Also unclear is how the presidential directive could affect Georgia legislation to rein in institutional investors buying up entry-level homes at a breakneck pace. State legislators last year proposed a battery of bills to loosen Wall Street’s grip on local housing markets — but most sputtered before the first half of the two-year session concluded. They’ll have another shot during the current legislative session, which ends April 2.
House Bill 305, for example, would prohibit investment funds from buying additional homes in Georgia if they have at least $6.25 million in assets or already own 25 single-family homes in any county. Another bill that stalled last year, HB 374, would authorize local governments to create rental registries to track corporate landlord behavior.
State lawmakers, lobbyists, and nonprofit leaders told Atlanta Civic Circle this week that the Trump edict could have one of two effects: it could signal to Georgia’s Republican-controlled legislature that it’s time to regulate institutional landlords — or it could do the opposite, and signal that the bills before Georgia lawmakers are unneeded, due to the federal executive order.
“I’m hopeful that this will give Republicans here some cover to come up with real solutions to this very real and growing problem,” state Rep. Phil Olaleye (D-Atlanta) told Atlanta Civic Circle.
“Trump finally is listening to the common-sense folks on the ground who see the institutional presence in our housing market to be unsustainable, unfair, and a poor practice to helping everyday folks step into home ownership — to share in the American dream,” the Democratic lawmaker said.