Restricting institutional home ownership is a foolhardy solution to unaffordability 

President Donald Trump issued a pseudo-ban on institutional investors purchasing single-family homes last week. In an executive order, Trump decreed that “large institutional investors should not buy single-family homes that could otherwise be purchased by families.” The order aims to “combat speculation” and directs the government-owned mortgage enterprises to restrict investor participation in the housing market. Unfortunately, the demagoguery ignores the real problem: Federal mortgage subsidies, interest rate manipulation, central bank MBS purchases, rising construction costs from tariffs, and onerous local land-use restrictions created this crisis. 

Banning institutional ownership does not address it.

Despite media hysteria, institutional investors own fewer than 6 of every 1,000 single-family homes. The much-maligned Blackstone owns barely 1 of every 2,000. Institutional investors own only 3% of single-family rentals. Small “mom and