Trump has an affordability idea – or at least wants to sound like he does

There’s nothing Donald Trump can’t screw up. And I’m sure this will be another one.

But for whatever reason, he stumbled back into populist mode this week and proposed something that on its face is a good idea and, if handled right as an issue, could be a very popular one. CNBC reports:

President Donald Trump said the U.S. should bar large institutional investors from buying single-family homes, arguing that corporate ownership has helped push housing further out of reach for everyday Americans.

“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 said in a Truth Social post 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. [my emphasis] (1)

My guess is that he is responding to the affordability issue which Zohran Mamdani made so popular by his successful run for New York City Mayor.

CNBC immediately went into lobbyist mode in the video accompanying the article by suggesting this would hurt “mom-and-pop” investors in residential real estate.

We need to remember the TACO rule, “Trumpp Always Chickens Out,” which may wind up applying to this. But at least we get to see a short-term dip in the stocks of some of the financial vultures:

Invitation Homes, which is the largest renter of single-family homes in the country, tumbled 6%. Shares of Blackstone, an investing firm that owns and rents single-family homes, dropped more than 5%. Private equity firm Apollo Global Management also declined over 5%.

The national median existing single-family home price was $426,800 in the third quarter of 2025 after hitting a record high of $435,300 in the summer, according to the National Association of Realtors. The average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage is currently at 6.19%, according to Mortgage News Daily.

Blackstone was the largest private-equity owner of apartments in the U.S. with more than 230,000 units, according to data from the Private Equity Stakeholder Project released last year. Blackstone in recent years has spent billions acquiring real estate companies such as Tricon Residential, American Campus Communities and AIR Communities. [my emphasis]

Notes:

(1) Li, Yun (2026);Trump says U.S. to ban large investors from buying homes. CNBC 01/07/12026. <https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/07/trump-housing-affordability.html> (Accessed: 2026-08-01.