Anchor
Congress moves to cap institutional landlords' home purchases
Rule ChangesTrump signs the bill into law, capping institutional home acquisitions at 350 — the sell-off mandate was dropped in the final deal
June 24th, 2026: Trump signs the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act into lawNew here? Follow stories to track developments over time. Create a free account to get updates when stories you care about change.
Overview
Updated Jun 24President Trump signed the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act on June 24, 2026, after the Senate passed the final text 85-5 and the House cleared it 358-32 the next day. The law bans large institutional investors from buying additional single-family homes for 15 years.
The final deal dropped the Senate's seven-year sell-off mandate. Build-to-rent properties are fully exempt from the 350-home cap — investors keep existing portfolios and can still build new ones. Nine of twelve community banking provisions from the House version survived; six Senate-only provisions were added back.
Why it matters
For the first time, federal law caps how many single-family homes large institutional investors can buy.
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Key Indicators
350
Homes triggering the buying ban
Investors at or above this threshold cannot buy more existing single-family homes. Build-to-rent properties are exempt.
358-32
Final House passage margin
House cleared the reconciled text on June 23, 2026, one day after the Senate vote.
85-5
Final Senate passage margin
Senate passed the reconciled bill on June 22, 2026, ending the monthslong standoff with the House.
15 years
Duration of investor buying ban
The acquisition ban runs for 15 years. New construction and build-to-rent properties are exempt.
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Congress moves to cap institutional landlords' home purchases
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People Involved
Tim Scott
Chairman, US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs (R-SC)
Bill signed into law
Elizabeth Warren
Ranking Member, US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs (D-MA)
Bill signed; accepted compromise without sell-off mandate
French Hill
Chairman, House Financial Services Committee (R-AR)
Bill signed; nine of twelve community banking provisions survived
Maxine Waters
Ranking Member, House Financial Services Committee (D-CA)
Co-led final compromise; bill signed into law
Organizations Involved
U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
Congressional Committee
Bill signed into law
The Senate committee with jurisdiction over federal housing policy.
House Financial Services Committee
Congressional Committee
Bill signed into law
The House committee that approved the amended version of the bill.
Timeline
July 2025 June 2026
10 events
Latest: June 24th, 2026 · 2 months ago
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-
Trump signs the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act into law
Latest ExecutiveTrump signed the bill at a Capitol Hill ceremony. The law bans large institutional investors from acquiring additional single-family homes and includes more than 45 provisions covering zoning reform, manufactured housing, and NEPA streamlining.
-
Senate passes reconciled bill, 85-5
LegislativeThe Senate cleared the final text with 85 votes, sending the bill to the House for a final up-or-down vote. Warren called it the biggest housing legislation in over 30 years on the Senate floor.
-
Scott, Warren, Hill, and Waters release the final negotiated text
LegislativeThe four lead sponsors released a compromise bill as a Senate strike-all amendment, keeping the 350-home cap and build-to-rent exemption while restoring six Senate-only provisions and dropping three of the House's twelve community banking sections.
-
House passes amended bill, 396-13, dropping sell-off mandate
LegislativeHouse keeps the 350-home acquisition cap but strips the Senate's seven-year sell-off requirement for build-to-rent properties.
-
Scott and Warren: Senate 'not ready' to pass the House-amended bill
StatementAhead of the House vote, Scott and Warren issued a joint statement saying 'there's still work to be done' and committed to continued negotiations with the White House and House colleagues to produce a bill the Senate can pass.
-
Warren warns House changes could 'kill the housing bill overall'
StatementWarren told The Hill that stripping the build-to-rent sell-off overrides language Trump himself endorsed, and amounts to an attempt to kill the bill. A community banking provision added by Chairman Hill is a separate obstacle she opposes.
-
White House backs the House-amended version
ExecutiveThe Trump administration released a statement of administration policy supporting the House bill, saying it 'would increase the availability of single-family homes and promote homeownership for working families.' The statement puts the White House at odds with the Senate Democratic position.
-
Senate passes expanded 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, 89-10
LegislativeBill now caps institutional purchases at 350 homes and orders large investors to sell build-to-rent inventory within seven years.
-
Senate passes original ROAD to Housing Act unanimously
LegislativeThe narrower precursor bill clears the Senate without opposition. It does not yet include the institutional investor cap.
-
Senate Banking Committee unanimously approves ROAD to Housing Act
LegislativeScott and Warren win a 24-0 committee vote — the panel's first bipartisan housing markup in over a decade.
Historical Context
3 moments from history that rhyme with this story — and how they unfolded.
July 1949
Housing Act of 1949
President Truman signed the first major federal housing law, authorizing 810,000 public housing units, federal slum clearance funding, and FHA mortgage insurance expansion. Senator Robert Taft (R-OH) co-sponsored it across party lines.
Then
The bill created the federal framework for public housing, urban renewal, and government-backed mortgage insurance.
Now
It set the precedent that Washington plays a role in housing supply, not just demand-side subsidy.
Why this matters now
The 1949 Act is the last comparable bipartisan federal housing supply intervention. The current bill borrows the same expand-supply-from-Washington logic after decades of state-level dominance.
2012-2015
Wall Street's single-family rental boom (2012-2015)
After the 2008 housing crash, Blackstone's Invitation Homes and rivals like American Homes 4 Rent and Progress Residential bought roughly 200,000 foreclosed homes across the Sun Belt. The single-family rental industry barely existed before 2012. By 2015, large institutional investors owned more than 350,000 single-family rentals.
Then
A new asset class — single-family rentals backed by securitized rental income — was born and went public on the New York Stock Exchange.
Now
Institutional owners concentrated in Atlanta, Phoenix, Charlotte, and Tampa, where in some ZIP codes they later bought more than 25% of starter homes that came on the market.
Why this matters now
That post-crisis buying spree created the firms the 350-home threshold now targets. Without it, this bill has no political constituency.
September 2021
Berlin expropriation referendum (2021)
A majority of 56% of Berlin voters approved a non-binding referendum to expropriate roughly 240,000 apartments owned by landlords with portfolios above 3,000 units. Deutsche Wohnen and Vonovia were the main targets.
Then
The Berlin Senate convened an expert commission but did not implement the measure. Legal challenges argued it violated German property law.
Now
The vote showed that majorities in advanced economies will back direct curbs on large institutional landlords when housing costs rise sharply.
Why this matters now
Berlin tried expropriation; Congress is trying a softer cap on acquisitions. Both reflect the same political pressure point: voters blaming corporate buyers for unaffordability.
Sources
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