Shares of Blackstone $BX ( ▲ 1.11% ) and Invitation Homes $INVH ( ▲ 0.87% ) fell sharply Wednesday afternoon after President Trump said he wants Congress to ban large Wall Street investors from buying single-family homes, reigniting a long-running political fight over housing affordability.
The comments immediately pressured stocks tied to institutional housing ownership and residential construction.
Wall Street landlords in the crosshairs
In a statement posted Wednesday, Trump said large institutional investors should be barred from purchasing additional single-family homes, arguing that corporate ownership has pushed homeownership out of reach for many Americans.
Blackstone and Invitation Homes, two of the largest institutional owners of US rental homes, were singled out directly. Both stocks dropped more than 4% on the news as investors priced in the risk of regulatory or legislative action that could cap future growth.
Trump framed the proposal as part of a broader effort to restore housing affordability, saying “people live in homes, not corporations,” and added that he plans to push Congress to codify the policy.
Homebuilders caught in the spillover
The rhetoric also weighed on major homebuilders, even though they are not the primary targets of the proposal. Shares of PulteGroup $PHM ( ▲ 5.01% ) , DR Horton $DHI ( ▲ 4.73% ) , and Lennar $LEN ( ▲ 5.41% ) all moved lower as investors worried that restrictions on institutional buyers could reduce demand for new homes at the margin.
Institutional investors have become a meaningful buyer group for newly built single-family homes in recent years, particularly in fast-growing Sun Belt markets. Any curbs on that activity could ripple through the housing ecosystem.
Big headline, big uncertainty
For now, the proposal is just that, a proposal. There are no details on how a ban would be structured, whether it would apply retroactively, or how Congress might respond.
Still, the market reaction shows how sensitive housing-related stocks are to political risk. Even the possibility of restrictions on institutional home buying was enough to send Wall Street’s biggest landlords sharply lower in a single session.