Baldwin, Warnock Push Trump to Follow Through on Promise to Crack Down on Corporate Investors Buying Up Single-Family Homes

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, ahead of the President's speech in Davos in which he pledged to outline housing policies, Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Revernd Raphael Warnock (D-GA) called on President Trump to support their bill and make good on his promise to take on large institutional investors who are buying up single-family homes. Specifically, the Senators urged President Trump to call on Congressional Republicans to pass their Stop Predatory Investing Act, legislation that ends tax breaks for Wall Street investors who are buying single-family homes, driving up prices, and locking Americans out of home ownership.

"It's Wisconsin families who should be buying homes in our neighborhoods - not big, wealthy out-of-state investors. For too long, big corporations and wealthy private equity firms have been allowed to 'gobble up' single-family homes just to pad their pockets, driving up housing costs in our neighborhoods and locking families out of homeownership," said Senator Baldwin. "President Trump should make good on his promise and get behind our plan to crack down on Wall Street using Wisconsin communities to turn a profit and make housing more affordable for families."

"In Atlanta, private equity owns roughly 25% of the single-family rental housing market-that kind of corporate greed is squeezing first-time homebuyers out of the market and pushing the American Dream further out of reach," said Senator Warnock. "It's time Congress did something about it. I'm calling on my Congressional colleagues to heed the President's call and join our year-long effort to keep private equity from driving up housing costs."

In a letter to President Trump, Senators Baldwin and Warnock urged President Trump to call on Congressional Republicans to immediately pass the Stop Predatory Investing Act, which would prohibit an investor who owns 50 or more single-family rental homes from deducting interest or depreciation on those properties. The legislation comes as there have been increasing reports of out-of-state corporate investors "gobbling up" homes to rent with the sole intent of making money.

In the second quarter of last year, real estate investors purchased one-third of all single-family residential properties sold, making investors the highest share of homebuyers in the past five years. Investors often use these properties as rentals, leading to corporate landlords driving up rent prices, evicting tenants, and poorly maintaining properties from sometimes states away.

A full version of this letter is available here and below.

Dear Mr. President:

We write to urge you to fulfill your promise to ban large institutional investors from buying up single-family homes by urging Congressional Republicans to immediately pass the Stop Predatory Investing Act. This legislation would make more homes available for middle-class families by cracking down on Wall Street investors that buy up affordable homes across the country, driving housing prices up and putting homeownership out of reach for too many Americans.

In the second quarter of last year, real estate investors purchased one-third of all single-family residential properties sold, making investors the highest share of homebuyers in the past five years. Using algorithms and all-cash offers, these institutional investors target the affordable starter-homes typically purchased by first-time homebuyers, pushing families out of the housing market. Investors often turn these properties into rentals, leading to corporate landlords driving up rent prices, evicting tenants, and poorly maintaining properties compared to smaller landlords.

Last week, we were encouraged to hear your commitment to ban large investors from buying single-family homes, a practice we have long argued is putting homeownership out of reach for far too many Americans. That is why we introduced the Stop Predatory Investing Act, which would deny certain appreciate and depreciation tax benefits for investors owning 50 or more single-family rental properties. Importantly, our legislation permits the sale of excess investor-owned properties back to individuals, families, and housing non-profits while promoting new construction by permitting tax advantages for homes financed using Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC).

You have the opportunity to make homeownership more affordable for American families. If you are truly interested in ensuring Americans, not corporations, have access to the American Dream, we urge you to call on Congressional Republicans to pass the Stop Predatory Investing Act and send this commonsense legislation to your desk to be signed into law.

Sincerely,

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