Are Big Investors Banned?

This issue of Pillow Talk, our weekly newsletter, went out by email on June 25, 2026. Get the next one.

Hey friend,

Welcome to the 45th weekly edition of Pillow Talk! This is where I share my unfiltered thoughts on life, business, and property management.

This week, I’m deciphering the ROAD to Housing Act.

The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act officially passed the House this last Tuesday. So long as President Trump signs it, it’ll become a law.

There are 60 sections in the bill, but only one that everyone is talking about.

Sec. 901 – Homes Are For People, Not Corporations

This section is the one that’s been making news because it addresses institutional investors (350+ units) owning single-family homes. The title comes from a speech Trump gave in January at The World Economic Forum. Later that month, he issued an executive order aimed at stopping wall street from competing with main street homebuyers.

This order and previous versions of Sec. 901 sparked headlines like Could Trump bring down home prices by banning Wall Street ownership? The prevailing fear was that the administration would outright ban large institutional investors from owning single-family homes. Some people thought that was a good idea. Some didn’t.

Whether or not it was ever true, according to housing economist Jay Parsons, “there’s no “ban” in the final version.” Rather, there are many carve-outs in the bill that make it so institutional investors can pretty much continue business as usual. Jay says in his LinkedIn post:

“…the entire section on single-family rental investors might have been written in far fewer words as a mere requirement that SFR investors help renters build credit scores and get first dibs on the house should the investor sell. That would have saved a lot of time and headaches (because many investors have been doing these things for years), while preventing the BTR development freeze that stalled ~10k units this year.”

The only real “ban” is a two-year expiration on institutional investors buying homes off the open market to hold as a rental. After the two years are up, that channel closes.

Other Carve-outs

Other things the bill didn’t ban institutional investors from doing:

• Build-to-Rent is still fully permitted. And there’s no forced-sale requirement that previous versions had.
• Renovate to rent is permitted so long as (1) the home fails building code and (2) they invest at least 15% of the price into the renovations.
• They can still purchase from another large institutional investor that either owned the home on the date of enactment or purchased the single-family home in compliance with the bill, including BTR projects.

In reality, the bill doesn’t change much for institutional investors, but it could have a positive impact on the country’s housing supply shortage. Jay Parsons also says in his post that the “real wins” in the bill are the more than 40 provisions that help streamline, incentivize, or boost housing construction.

The Roundup

Content worth the click

• This discussion about the 0% management fee
• Sell It, Scale It, or Hire a CEO? with Deb Newell
• I want to be my kids for a week
• Opendoor CEO warns housing market has stopped working

Good night 😴

Lior Abramovich
Co-founder, CEO