Senate Bill Proposes Federal Antitrust Review for Institutional Housing Investors

Senate Democrats have introduced a bill to create an antitrust review process for corporate housing investors, whose record-level purchasing of single-family housing is driving up rents and home prices for families, according to housing advocates. An article from KTVZ, a northwest Oregon news outlet, reports that the Housing Acquisitions Review and Transparency (HART) Act was introduced by Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and cosponsored by seven senators, including Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden (D-Ore).

“The bill requires corporations and private equity firms that buy up large amounts of housing to report those transactions to antitrust enforcers to stop anticompetitive transactions that could increase rents, decrease services, and push homebuyers out of the market. Currently, even the largest transactions of residential property are exempted from reporting to the Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department for antitrust review,” the article reads.

This is just the latest in a spate of legislative activity aimed at cracking down on Wall Street and big private equity investors snapping up affordable properties across the U.S. Last December, Sen. Merkley introduced the End Hedge Fund Control of American Homes Act of 2023 to the Senate and Rep. Adam Smith of Washington introduced the House version; the bill would ban hedge funds from the single-family housing market and require them to sell off all single-family homes they own over a decade. In July 2023, Sen. Brown—who is chair of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee—introduced the Stop Predatory Investing Act to restrict tax breaks for big corporate investors that buy up homes, often driving up local housing prices and rents. Lawmakers in Ohio, Nebraska, California, New York, Minnesota, and North Carolina have also proposed laws aimed at stopping Wall Street investors’ home-buying spree.