Episode summary
Corporate Landlords Find Themselves in Trump's Crosshairs | Bloomberg Businessweek
Bloomberg Businessweek Daily
· · 11 min · Hosts: Tim Stenovec, Carol Massar, Emily Graffeo · Guests: Stephen Scherr, Sri Natarajan
Summary
President Trump’s pledge to stop institutional investors from buying more homes put corporate landlords back in the political crosshairs, and the guest argued that the reaction from Pretium and other single-family rental owners was surprise, not panic. He said the real issue is housing affordability, which he framed as a supply-demand problem worsened by a shortage of 3 to 4 million homes, especially on the rental side.
The guest argued that private capital can be part of the fix rather than the problem. He pointed to rent-to-own structures, credit-building for renters, down-payment savings mechanisms, and partnerships with homebuilders to support smaller, more affordable housing. He also said the company’s renters are often not mortgage-eligible today, which shows how far the market is from a simple ownership transition.
On regulation, the guest said an outright ban on institutional buying is not the logical end state and noted that Pretium’s business is broader than single-family rentals, including credit and multifamily investing. He compared the current debate to opportunity zones in Trump’s first term, arguing that public policy can harness private capital to expand housing supply and improve access to ownership.
Key takeaways
- The guest said Trump’s anti-institutional-buying pledge was a surprise, but not a surprise that housing affordability is a major issue.
- He argued the U.S. is short 3 to 4 million homes, making the supply-demand imbalance the core affordability problem.
- Pretium says 90% of its renters are not eligible for a mortgage, underscoring how hard the path to ownership can be.
- The guest said private capital could help through rent-to-own programs, down-payment savings, and smaller homes built with homebuilders.
- He said an outright ban on corporate homebuyers would worsen affordability by sidelining capital that helps de-risk new housing projects.
Notable quotes
“we did not expect nor anticipate that that would be um kind of an initiative that the president was going to take up specifically as it relates to single family homes”
“The country is short anywhere from 3 to 4 million homes. It's more acute on the rental side than on the ownership side”
“90% of our renters are not eligible for a mortgage”
“I don't view an outright ban as being the logical end state”
“If institutional investors were completely banned from buying homes, single family rentals”
How the episode opens
Bloomberg Audio Studios podcasts radio news. — You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Tim Stenc on Bloomberg Radio.
Healthcare certainly in focus as the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference is underway in San Francisco. Also, what we're watching closely, what's happening in the housing industry. This after President Trump last week brought the issue of corporate home buying front and center when he pledged in a social media post to stop institutional investors from buying more homes.
Some major owners of single family rental homes were blindsided by the news. This according to people with knowledge of the matter and we saw shares of institutional buyers dive on that. One of those major owners of single family homes joins us now.
Steven Sher is co-president of Predium. The firm has more than $60 billion in assets under management, including around $32 billion of real estate. It owns and manages more than 82,000 homes in more than 30 markets.
Also joining us, Shinataraj, Bloomberg News W Chief Wall Street correspondent. They both join us here in the Bloomberg Business Week studio. Welcome guys.
Thanks for joining us. That's where I want to start. Stephen, the edict from President Trump, did it blindside you?
Did it come as a surprise? Yeah, we did not expect nor anticipate that that would be um kind of an initiative that the president was going to take up specifically as it relates to single family homes. Having said that, the president is putting and has put on the table a critically important issue for the country which is affordability of housing.
And I think in as much as we were surprised uh by his social media post um we stand quite ready to to be a force for a solution where private capital can play a very active role in uh in the housing issue.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- institutional home buying
- single-family rentals
- trump housing policy
- corporate landlords
- housing market outlook
Companies and tickers mentioned
- BX
- Blackstone Inc.
- Pretium
Watch the episode
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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