President Trump recently announced a new initiative in an attempt to loosen America’s tight housing inventory. His idea is to ban big investment firms from buying single-family houses advancing So would this rule really move the needle and make homes more affordable for families? Here’s what the experts believe.

Trump’s Social Truth proposal was a ban on large institutional investors from buying more single-family homes. The president believes that removing private equity firms and similar investors from the market will allow more first time home buyers to enter the market.

A 2024 report by the Government Accountability Office said institutional investors “may have helped boost home prices and rents and helped stabilize neighborhoods after the financial crisis.” However, the impact on “home ownership opportunities” was unclear.

Cotality, a real estate analytics firm, reported in November that investor activity increased from 29% in June 2025 to 30% in September 2025.

“This upward trend continues based on the high market share controlled by investors since late 2024 and represents a year-on-year increase of three percentage points,” the analysis found.

However, the impact of Wall Street investors such as private equity firms is a matter of debate. Investment pools may not be as threatening to the home buyer as some think.

In an October 2025 analysis, Realtor.com said, “Even in states with the highest rates of investor ownership, it’s not institutional buyers driving the trend.”

More than 90 percent of investor-owned single-family homes were held by small investors who owned fewer than 11 properties, Realtor.com noted, citing data from CJ Patrick Co. and BatchData.

States with the highest share of investor-owned homes included Maine, Montana, Alaska and Hawaii.

“However, the vast majority of this housing stock is in the hands of individuals and small associations, not mega-investors,” the real estate association reported.

While investment activity may have played a role, the housing shortage has evolved from more than one contributing factor. Higher housing prices and high mortgage rates are surely in the mix.

Another, and surprising, pressure point may have a local basis.

Research by Wharton real estate professor Joseph Gyourko and Harvard economics professor Edward Glaeser points to tightening local building restrictions.

The professors found that while housing construction boomed in the 1950s and 1960s, over the next three decades, construction halved. This trend continues today.

Local governments, especially in the Sunbelt, are making it harder to build homes with restrictive zoning and allowing the laws to “slow down and stop new development,” the research concluded.

“I think the biggest thing is change at the local level,” Gyourko said. “There needs to be a recognition that these high prices are largely, not entirely, due to restrictive permits and higher regulation at the local level.”

The issue of regulatory burdens resonated with Ed Brady, president and CEO of the Men’s Builders Institute.

“It’s probably very near the top of the list of challenges with communities struggling with affordability — restrictions imposed by cities, states or municipalities,” Brady said. “That’s why 25 percent of the cost of a single-family home in the United States is regulatory issues: $100,000 of a $400,000 house is a regulatory burden, soft costs that don’t go into the sticks and bricks of the construction. That’s a huge burden.”

What would be the impact of less institutional domestic investment?

“It would probably put downward pressure on prices by reducing demand in the market,” said Cotality chief economist Thom Malone. “However, institutional investors historically only account for a small portion of total home purchases, around 1% to 2%, so the overall impact on prices would likely be modest.”

Malone also noted that restricting institutional activity would reduce supply in the single-family rental market, which would likely make rent more expensive. “There’s also the question of how builders would respond: with fewer buyers, construction activity could slow, dampening any downward pressure on house prices,” Malone added.

Realtor.com senior economist Jake Krimmel believed Trump’s proposal is unlikely to move the needle on affordability.

“The affordability crisis is fundamentally a supply problem, and meaningful relief requires adding housing, both through new construction and inventory gains in chronically tight markets,” Krimmel said. “Large corporate ownership is a red herring in the wider supply debate.”

While Trump’s initiatives are certainly fueling the “somebody’s got to do something” frustration among hopeful homebuyers, no one disputes that the housing shortage will require more than one solution.

“You’re not going to get an overnight solution to the affordability problem,” said HBI’s Brady. “We’ve lost a large segment of the population that has been the traditional first-time home buyer because they can’t afford it. With regulatory burdens, land use, ratestrade, all those things, it’s a perfect storm where housing prices are too high.”

Any effort by the government or the housing industry to expand home affordability is worth watching. In the meantime, you can tip the balance of owning a house in your favor by taking some enabling action.

• Save more for a down payment. With more money down, you’ll get a lower interest rate and more favorable loan terms.

• Reduce debt. A lower debt-to-income ratio (DTI) will make you a more attractive borrower.

• Shop around with multiple mortgage lenders. Get pre-approved with three or four lenders to compare not only their interest rates, but their fees as well. This strategy helps you find the best deal.

• Know your credit score. While there are many credit scoring models, knowing your score from any of them will help you set your expectations for the interest rate you can earn. You can also track the savings you can get by improving your score.

• Explore loan options. Government home loans, such as FHA, USDA or VA mortgages, can improve affordability by allowing for lower down payments and flexible credit hurdles.

• Check if you qualify for homebuyer programs. Down payment assistance programs and closing cost grants are available to households in specific areas and within qualified income limits.

• Look for interest rate reductions. Some lenders and new home builders are offering rate discounts for a limited time. You can also run the numbers on buying discount points to lower your mortgage rate.