Big investors with 350+ houses can't buy more starting in 2027

Starting January 7, 2027, a company or fund that controls 350 or more single-family homes can’t buy any more. When you’re bidding on a house, especially a starter home, you’ll face fewer offers from big corporate landlords. These investors don’t have to sell the homes they already own. Breaking the rule can bring a fine of up to $1 million per violation, or three times the home’s price if that’s more. The ban lasts 15 years.

There are exceptions. Big investors can still build new homes to rent out, fix up run-down homes to rent, take homes back through foreclosure, and buy from other large investors. Buyers don’t have to do anything to get the protection. The Treasury Department proposed rules to carry out the ban in October 2026.

Sen. Raphael Warnock (D) says he worked for years to limit corporate buying of starter homes, and in March 2026 he got the ban into the Senate’s housing bill. It became part of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, a broad housing package. Rep. French Hill (R) and Rep. Maxine Waters (D) led it in the House, and Sen. Tim Scott (R) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D) led it in the Senate. In January, President Donald Trump had ordered agencies to curb big investors’ home buying and called for a law. The final bill passed the Senate 85–5 and the House 358–32 with support from both parties. Trump didn’t sign it, citing an unrelated elections bill, but he didn’t veto it either, so it became law on July 11, 2026.