U.S. News: Bill Would Force Large Investors to Sell Housing

“In a bipartisan bid to make homeownership more affordable, the U.S. Senate is aiming to restrict the industry that builds homes to rent them.

 

Senators recently inserted a provision in their latest housing legislation that would require large single-family home investors to sell their newly built rental properties to individuals within seven years of completing them.

 

Last week, trade groups, including the National Association of Home Builders and the National Multifamily Housing Council, wrote to the White House and lawmakers opposing the new seven-year sale proposal.

 

Other groups such as the National Association of Realtors, which represents real-estate agents, have supported the Senate's package.

 

The White House previously sent Congress a proposed addition to the Senate's housing bill to ban large institutional investors from buying existing homes, which would end the practice of deep-pocketed investors competing with traditional home buyers.

 

That proposal exempted build-to-rent developers that construct new homes for the purpose of renting them, either on their own or by selling to institutional investors.

 

Now, the Senate's latest provision takes aim at the build-to-rent industry by making it difficult for these companies to secure financing. Investors would be reluctant to fund new rentals that they would own for a few years before having to sell them off, investors and builders said.

 

The provision could lead to forced evictions of the tenants in those rental homes if they cannot afford to buy the property, builders said.

 

Supporters say the seven-year sale provision is part of a housing package that would boost supply and make homeownership more accessible.

 

"It's about making sure people like the single mom who raised me in North Charleston have even greater access to economic opportunity and the American dream of homeownership," Sen. Tim Scott (R., S.C.), who is co-sponsoring the bill with Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren, said last week.

 

A report from John Burns Research and Consulting said the new provision would make housing affordability worse by reducing new supply, leading to higher rents and home prices.” [1]

 

1. U.S. News: Bill Would Force Large Investors to Sell Housing. Picciotto, Rebecca.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 10 Mar 2026: A4.