Politics
The Senate Passed a Bill That Bans Corporate Investors From Buying Single-Family Homes
By Mike Harper · June 23, 2026
The Senate passed the largest housing bill in more than three decades on Monday night, 85-5.
The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act bans any investor owning 350 or more homes from purchasing additional single-family properties, makes it easier to build new housing by cutting federal regulations, and expands programs designed to help first-time buyers in an era when the average age of a first home purchase has reached 40 years old. The bill now goes to the House, which hopes to vote within days. If passed, it goes to Trump’s desk.
The vote was overwhelming. Only five senators voted no — all Republicans: Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Mike Lee, Ron Johnson, and Rick Scott. The rest of the Senate — across both parties — supported a bill that Senator Elizabeth Warren called “the most significant housing legislation to pass Congress since 1990, when the average home in America sold for $150,000.”
The investor ban is the provision that will matter most to the LightWave audience. Companies like Blackstone, Invitation Homes, and American Homes 4 Rent have spent billions buying single-family houses in suburban markets over the past decade, converting them to rentals and driving up prices for individual families trying to buy. The bill draws a line: if you own 350 or more homes, you cannot buy another one.
“We put this bill together with the deep-seated belief that it is families who should live in homes and that’s what homes are for,” Warren said. “They’re not there simply as investment vehicles for Wall Street private equity.”
There are exceptions. Investors can still purchase homes needing serious renovation to bring them up to code. They can still build new homes specifically for renting — the “build-to-rent” model that now accounts for 7% of new single-family construction. But those build-to-rent homes must be sold after seven years, with the current renter getting first right of purchase.
Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott called it the product of years of work to “lower costs, expand housing supply, cut red tape, protect taxpayers, and help more Americans achieve the dream of homeownership.”
The bill is a rare bipartisan victory in a Congress that has struggled to deliver on cost-of-living promises heading into the midterms. For Republicans, it delivers on Trump’s executive order limiting institutional investors. For Democrats, it delivers the investor ban Warren has pushed for years. Both parties can claim credit — which is exactly why 85 senators voted yes.
The House is expected to take up the bill this week. If it passes, it becomes law.