New Government Policies Look to Make Home Buying Easier

The pandemic has affected the housing market in a variety of ways, one that could spell trouble for anyone looking to own a home in the future is that of institutional investors who are scooping up single-family homes at a record pace. But the government is looking to provide new policies to help families get a leg up.

Institutional Investors Crowding Out Families in Housing Market

With home prices continuing to rise, the White House has decided to take note of the large single-family home purchases made by investors and companies that end up with the homes becoming rental properties. These ‘institutional investors’ are offering higher prices to home sellers, driving up the price of low-cost homes and making it difficult for families to match those offers.

According to NBC News, investor participation in the housing market—which usually floats around 15-17%—has risen to nearly 25%, meaning a quarter of all homes sold in the US are sold to investors rather than families or individuals.

Biden’s Plan to Make it Easier to Buy a Home for Families

To combat this new trend and give potential homeowners a chance, the Department of Housing and Urban Development announced that it would be giving families and non-profit organizations a longer window of time to bid on foreclosed properties before offering those homes to investors.

What’s in the Plan?

As a part of this plan, federal agencies will be implementing many new regulations to help improve the availability of affordable housing for Americans, including:

●       Increasing the supply of affordable rental units

●       Increasing the supply of manufactured housing and 2–4-unit properties

●       Making single-family homes available to individuals, families, and nonprofits (rather than large investors)

The pandemic has had a large impact on the housing market and continues to do so as investors and potential homeowners fight over the small number of available homes, something the government is looking to slow down in order to promote quality housing across the country.

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