President Donald Trump’s proposal to prohibit corporate investors from purchasing homes could have a significant impact in Florida, where large institutional landlords hold substantial portfolios of single-family rental properties.
Wall Street-backed firms, including global asset managers, private equity groups, and real estate investment trusts, have invested tens of billions of dollars in Florida’s residential market. Their presence grew during the pandemic as more people moved to Sun Belt states like Florida, attracting additional institutional capital.
Estimates suggest that corporate investors currently own between 20 and 25 percent of Florida’s single-family rental homes. This trend has drawn criticism from aspiring homeowners and politicians who argue that large landlords are reducing the supply of homes available for purchase.
Trump has not yet provided specifics about how such a ban would be implemented. He is expected to give further details at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland later this month. This marks his first major involvement in the national conversation on housing affordability.
Florida is a lucrative market for large rental operators. Invitation Homes, formerly part of Blackstone and now the largest single-family rental landlord in the U.S., reported $556 million in revenue from its Florida properties over the first nine months of last year. The company manages nearly 27,000 homes across the state with an estimated portfolio value of $4.2 billion.
Other major players include American Homes 4 Rent, which owns almost 8,700 single-family properties valued at around $2.1 billion. Privately held companies such as Progress Residential, Tricon Residential, and FirstKey Homes also control thousands more units statewide. One estimate cited by media outlets placed the number of single-family homes owned by corporate investors in Florida at approximately 117,000 as of late 2024.
Smaller companies have entered this market as well. For example, Tampa-based Second Avenue raised $250 million in 2022 after developing its single-family rental business since 2017.
Some economists question whether a ban on institutional ownership would significantly affect housing affordability nationwide or in Florida specifically. According to Jeff Korzenik, chief economist at Fifth Third Bank: “Institutional investors own about 20 percent of the single-family rental market nationally, so it’s not a big part of the housing stock,” he told the outlet. “The reality is that affordability comes down to supply, and who owns that supply is a less important factor.”
