Trump’s Next Reform: Who Gets to Own America’s Homes? (And How Crypto Could Flip the Script)

Forget Zillow. The next great American property war is being waged on the blockchain.

The New Land Rush

Trump's proposed housing reforms are more than policy—they're a signal flare for asset digitization. While Washington debates ownership caps and zoning laws, decentralized networks are quietly building the infrastructure to tokenize everything from studio apartments to skyscrapers. This isn't about buying a house; it's about buying a pixel of one.

Deeds on Distributed Ledgers

Traditional title companies move at geological speeds. Smart contracts execute property transfers in minutes, slashing closing costs by up to 70% according to early pilot data. Fractional ownership protocols are dismantling the six-figure entry barrier, letting investors own slivers of Miami condos and Montana ranches with the same ease as swapping stablecoins. The ultimate real estate hack? Cutting out the middleman who insists on wearing a tie.

The Liquidity Revolution

Real estate's fatal flaw has always been illiquidity. Tokenization fixes that glitch. Imagine selling your stake in a Brooklyn brownstone at 2 AM to a buyer in Singapore—settlement clears before breakfast. This creates bizarre new dynamics: property values could start tracking trading volume alongside school district ratings, and your NFT gallery might literally be your house.

The Regulatory Minefield

SEC chairmen get hives just thinking about this. Are property tokens securities? Commodities? Digital tulips? Current frameworks crumble under the weight of the question. The coming clash won't be fought in courthouses but in code repositories—with compliance algorithms battling for supremacy against regulator crawlers. The winner gets to define ownership for the next century.

The Cynical Take

Wall Street will package these tokenized mortgages into leveraged derivatives so complex that even the AI managing them will need a bailout. Some things never change.

The deed is dead. Long live the hash.

Key Takeaways

• After hinting at “aggressive” reforms in the housing market, President Donald Trump wrote on social media Wednesday that he is seeking to ban large investor home purchases.
• Investors accounted for more than 10% of home sales in the 2025 second quarter, but the majority were made by smaller investors.

President Donald TRUMP provided the first details of his plan for “aggressive” reforms to the housing market on Wednesday.

Trump wrote in a social media post that he is taking steps to ban large institutional investors from purchasing single-family homes. He also said he is asking Congress to write it into law.

“People live in homes, not corporations,” he wrote.

Why This Matters for the Housing Market

Investor demand can drive up home prices, making it more challenging for owner-occupiers to purchase homes. Changes to who can buy homes can also influence homebuilder activity, mortgage demand, and returns for real estate investors and funds tied to housing markets.

This is likely the first of several housing industry reforms Trump promised during his Dec. 17 address to the nation. More details on the ban are expected during Trump's upcoming speech at the annual World Economic Forum conference in Davos, Switzerland, scheduled for Jan. 19-23.

The housing market has sidelined many would-be buyers as affordability has declined: Mortgage rates remained well above 6% throughout 2025 and housing prices remained elevated.

Investors Activity Can Crowd Out Ordinary Homebuyers

The share of homes purchased by investors was 10.8% in the second quarter of 2025, the most recent data period tracked by Realtor.com.

While Trump’s post said the ban WOULD target larger operations, the Realtor.com data showed that the majority (82.5%) of investor purchases were made by smaller firms. Realtor.com defined large investors as those who made more than 50 purchases over a period of roughly 25 years. 

Investor activity in the housing market can make it more difficult for ordinary homebuyers to compete for homes. 

“With affordability still stretched and inventory tight, many would-be buyers remain sidelined, giving investors a larger share of the market and, in some areas, more influence over prices,” said Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com, in a prepared statement. “As a result, investor activity can amplify price pressures, especially in markets where their purchases concentrate in already competitive price ranges.”

Investors Seek Gains in High-Growth Markets

The report also showed that investors in some areas are often willing to pay for premium properties.

For example, the median investor purchase price in Montana comes in 35% higher than the overall median purchase price for houses in that state. Investors also bought more expensive homes in Utah, California, New York and Vermont, generally hoping to cash in on rising home prices. 

Related Education

In other areas, investor activity is focused on lower-priced housing, which is often then used as rental units. In Michigan, the median investor purchase price was 53% lower than the overall median purchase price in that state. Investors also purchased more low-priced housing in Maryland, Virginia, Delaware and Wisconsin.