North Carolina Republican Rep. Pat Harrigan is introducing a bill to codify protections that prevent institutional investors from buying single-family homes, the Daily Caller has learned.
Harrigan's bill, titled the Families First Housing Act of 2026, follows President Donald Trump's Wednesday post on Truth Social calling on Congress to codify protections that prevent large institutional investors from snapping up single-family homes.
Democratic Rep. Josh Riley of New York is co-leading the House bill on the bill, a congressional spokesman said. The bill aims to give families the first opportunity to purchase federally financed homes before institutional investors can get involved.
It establishes a 180-day “first look period” giving families priority when purchasing single-family homes owned, foreclosed or managed by the Federal Housing Administration, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Department of Agriculture, the text says.
Under the bill, if one of the eligible entities violates the first review period, the agency must publicly report the violation, impose a fine of $100,000 or one-third of the sale price, and cancel the sale unless it violates any contracts, according to the bill.
The legislation also requires each agency to maintain a publicly accessible website that lists eligible properties, the number sold to qualified first-look buyers, the pricing method, and the ratio of sales prices to market value of the properties.
Trump criticized the issue on social media on Wednesday. “For a very long time, buying and owning a home was considered the pinnacle of the American Dream. It was the reward for hard work and doing the right thing, but now, due to record high inflation caused by Joe Biden and Democrats in Congress, that American Dream is becoming increasingly out of reach for too many people, especially young Americans,” he wrote. “It is for this and many other reasons that I am immediately taking steps to prohibit large institutional investors from buying more single-family homes, and I will urge Congress to codify this.”
In a statement to The Caller, Harrigan emphasized that homeownership is becoming increasingly unaffordable for young Americans.
“Homeownership is becoming unaffordable for many Americans, especially young families,” Harrigan said. “Only about 30 percent of Americans under age 35 now own a home, about half as many as a generation ago. This gap didn't happen overnight, and it's not because people have stopped working hard. More and more families are being outbid by large financial firms buying up single-family homes on a large scale.”
🚨President Trump will immediately take steps to prohibit large institutional investors from buying more single-family homes and call on Congress to codify it. pic.twitter.com/Rq77lfs8Vi
— James Blair (@JamesBlairUSA) January 7, 2026
As of 2022, roughly 18% of single-family homes in Charlotte and nearly 13% in Raleigh were owned by large institutional investors, and those numbers continued to rise, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office. report.
Harrigan echoed the president's words, writing: “People live in homes, not corporations, and institutional investors should not block families from access. The Families First Act, which I introduced with Josh Riley, helps ensure that federally funded homes go to families first, not Wall Street.”
