HARRIS COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) — Houston’s housing market and supply are a topic of conversation.
During the State of the Union address on Tuesday, Houston’s housing market was thrust into the spotlight.
“Another pillar of the American dream that has been under attack is homeownership,” President Donald Trump said, speaking about Houstonian Raysall Wiggins.
“She placed bids on 20 homes and lost all of those bids to gigantic investment firms that bypassed inspection, paid all cash, and turned those houses into rentals, stealing away her American dreams.”
Trump signed an executive order in January stating he would prevent investment companies from buying large numbers of single-family homes.
Rice University’s Kinder Institute for Urban Research took a look at the issue and released a report in January.
Large investment firms haven’t purchased many homes in Harris County compared to other metro areas, but there are pockets of large investment, according to the report.
“It’s only a fraction of homes in Harris County are owned by these large national institutional investors. However, you may find certain neighborhoods where places like parts of Atascocita, and Spring and Bear Creek area where you might find subdivisions or smaller areas where they own the majority of the single-family stock,” Kinder Institute Researcher, Stephen Sherman said.
The nine institutional investors own an estimated 11,000 houses in Harris County, representing around 1% of the area’s homes, according to The Kinder Institute.
An earlier analysis of property records in 2021, using a similar methodology, showed that those companies held around 10,000 homes at that time, according to the Kinder Institute.
It remains to be seen what the long-term strategy is for the institutional investors that currently own a large number of homes.
“I think the bigger question is who are they going to sell to? A lot of these companies don’t plan on being in the property management game forever. Ultimately, they’re looking to sell their properties for a profit. So, the question is are they going to sell to other investors, and who will those investors be? National investors or local investors or will they be selling to middle-income, upper middle income or lower-income home buyers,” Sherman said.
President Trump is calling for the U.S. Congress to make his executive order permanent.
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