Treasury Proposes Rules for New Ban on Large Investors Buying Single-Family Homes

The Treasury Department on Thursday proposed the rules for a new federal ban on large investors buying single-family homes. The ban takes effect Jan. 7. The proposed rule implements Section 1001 of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, which the statute titles "Homes are for people, not corporations." It doesn't change the ban itself. It defines the terms the law leaves open and sets out how the law's exceptions would work.

The law. Congress passed the housing package by wide bipartisan margins: 85-5 in the Senate on June 22 and 358-32 in the House on June 23. Every Democrat voting and 166 Republicans supported it in the House; all 32 no votes were Republicans. It became Public Law 119-101 on July 11. According to the Government Publishing Office, it became law when the 10-day period for presidential action expired, without the President's signature.

The statute says: "No large institutional investor may purchase, or enter into a contract to directly or indirectly purchase, any single-family home." A large institutional investor is a for-profit entity in the business of owning, renting or managing single-family homes that, "alone or in concert with 1 or more other entities," has direct or indirect "investment control of not less than 350 single-family homes." Homes bought in excepted purchases after enactment don't count toward the 350. Investment control includes owning or controlling "more than 25 percent of any class of equity interests" in the owner, unless the investor is passive. The law covers structures with one or two units and excludes manufactured homes. It does not require investors to sell homes they already owned before enactment.

Penalties. Treasury, or the Justice Department at Treasury's request, can seek a civil penalty of "not more than $1,000,000 per violation, or 3 times the purchase price of the property involved, whichever is greater." Starting in fiscal 2027, and to the extent appropriations allow, penalties go to HUD's HOME Investment Partnerships program. The proposed rule adds that when one purchase involves several large institutional investors, such as a fund and its manager, it counts as a single violation for the maximum penalty.

What the proposed rule spells out:

• Build-to-rent. A qualifying home must not have been occupied by an owner-occupant, must be bought within 18 months of receiving its certificate of occupancy, and must first be occupied by renters after the purchase.
• Renovate-to-rent. A qualifying home must fail "structural or core system elements of local building codes" at purchase. The investor must resolve all material deficiencies and spend at least 15% of the purchase price on improvements. A proposed safe harbor treats the home as substantially rehabilitated if at least 10% of the price goes to structural or core-system work. The 15% total still applies.
• Renter-purchase paths. Proposed safe harbors cover when a renter has received "meaningful financial support" toward buying a home, and when a renter has received the law's right of first refusal and 30-day "first look."
• Who is covered. Per Treasury's release, an entity is "in the business of" single-family homes when it holds them for income or financial gain "and not incidentally to a different business." The rule also sets passive-investor conditions based on director and management overlap and on property-control rights.

Treasury's release says the rule codifies "key requirements" of President Trump's January Executive Order 14376. That order said "large institutional investors should not buy single-family homes that could otherwise be purchased by families."

Comment period. The rule is scheduled for publication in the Federal Register on Friday. Comments are due 30 days after that, through Regulations.gov docket TREAS-DO-2026-0529. The document says Treasury "may subsequently engage in additional rulemakings."

A separate order Thursday. President Trump also signed an executive order titled "Decreasing Housing Costs for the American People." It is not part of the Treasury rule. Under the order:

• the FHFA director would direct Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to set up a pilot program to cancel mortgage insurance proactively on new loans once borrowers meet equity requirements;
• the title-acceptance pilot for refinances would expand into an ongoing program;
• HUD and FHFA would co-chair a Task Force on Manufactured Housing Innovation;
• and the Agriculture and Veterans Affairs secretaries would cut interest rates on their departments' direct single-family home loans (fact sheet).

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent posted the release:

Post: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (@SecScottBessent) on X, Oct. 22, 2026, 9:04 a.m. ET.

"Under President Trump, this Administration continues to restore the path to affordable homeownership for millions of young and working families. Treasury is working to ensure American families and workers have a fair shot at purchasing homes in their communities by increasing housing supply and limiting large institutional investors' role in the market, while supporting a strong, stable housing market and avoiding unnecessary disruption."