Trump Bid to Ban Corporate Homebuying Blindsides Wall Street (1)

The time of the corporate landlord as America’s housing villain was supposed to be over.

Money managers like Blackstone Inc. and Pretium who binged on single-family rentals in the wake of the financial crisis took blow after blow as housing prices shot up. But the cohort has since cooled its buying, and the attacks slowed.

No longer. President Donald Trump on Wednesday brought the issue 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, according to people with knowledge of ...