President Donald Trump has signed an Executive Order that his Administration contends will help lower housing prices and stoke affordability by placing restrictions on big investors’ home purchases. But experts say that its impact for homebuyers and the broader market will be minor. The order signed by Trump on Tuesday directs his Administration to work to bar large institutional investors from buying single-family homes in an effort “to make homeownership affordable again after years of Wall Street crowding out first-time buyers and young families,” in the White House’s words. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] “Hardworking young families cannot effectively compete for starter homes with Wall Street firms and their vast resources,” the order reads. “Neighborhoods and communities once controlled by middle-class American families are now run by faraway corporate interests … My Administration will take decisive action to stop Wall Street from treating America’s neighborhoods like a trading floor and empower American families to own their homes.” The order lays out several broad steps for the Administration to take in the coming weeks to review relevant policies and impose restrictions. The specifics of how it might be implemented are not yet clear, however, including how the terms “large institutional investor” and “single-family home” will be defined—which the order gives Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent 30 days to determine. Experts tell TIME that they expect the move to have only a small effect, saying that its scope is limited and it doesn’t address the issues most responsible for high housing prices. “This executive order appears…
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