Wall Street homebuyers plan counter-offer after Trump threat
Trump administration would restrict future purchases without forcing companies to divest their current holdings
[NEW YORK] Wall Street homebuyers rattled by President Donald Trump’s broadside are plotting their own proposals to defuse the risk of getting shut out of the housing market.
“If the administration were to sit down with a group of us we could put a proposal – we could put a project – together,” Pretium Co-President Stephen Scherr said in an interview on Monday (Jan 12) on Bloomberg Television.
“Conversations, as you might imagine, have begun,” he added, referring to talks within the industry.
While politicians have long targeted single-family rental companies, Trump’s proposal on social media last week to ban institutional home purchases blind-sided many in the industry.
Later remarks by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent suggested that the Trump administration would restrict future purchases without forcing companies like Invitation Homes or Blackstone’s Tricon Residential to divest their current holdings.
Scherr, whose company is among the largest owners of single-family rental homes, said that one possibility was a more robust approach to rent-to-own programmes aimed at helping people build credit and capital needed to eventually purchase a home.
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“Imagine a scenario in which rent is paid, money is held back to provide against a deposit account for a down payment,” he noted.
Both banks and government-sponsored entities could play a role in such a scenario, Scherr said. “Imagine mortgages in the 1 per cent or 2 per cent category,” he added. “Imagine where we were to link arms with homebuilders who could build smaller, more affordable homes.”
Scherr, who was previously chief financial officer at Goldman Sachs Group, said that companies like Pretium are already helping to promote lower costs by providing capital to create new housing for renters, where he noted that the housing shortage is most acute.
“The president has put on the table a critically important issue,” Scherr added. “There’s an opportunity for a big beautiful housing Bill to come together, to which we would play a part.” BLOOMBERG
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