This Act mandates a comprehensive study and subsequent assessment by HUD to examine foreign residential real estate purchases, their impact on U.S. housing affordability, and to recommend measures for greater ownership transparency.
Marsha Blackburn
Senator
TN
The Foreign Property Ownership Transparency Act mandates a comprehensive study by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to track foreign residential real estate purchases, analyze ownership structures, and assess the impact on U.S. housing affordability. Following the GAO study, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) must submit recommendations to Congress on improving transparency and addressing market effects. This legislation aims to provide clarity on who is buying American homes and the resulting consequences for domestic buyers.
New Transparency Act Orders Federal Study on Foreign Home Buying Since 2015
The Foreign Property Ownership Transparency Act doesn’t immediately change any rules about buying a house, but it kicks off a major federal investigation. Essentially, Congress is hitting the pause button on new policy until they get the data they need. This bill mandates that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) conduct a comprehensive study on how foreign individuals, companies, and governments have been buying U.S. residential real estate since January 1, 2015, and what that’s doing to the housing market.
The Data Deep Dive: Who Owns What?
This study is the core of the bill (SEC. 3) and it’s designed to answer some big questions. The GAO has one year to deliver its findings to Congress. They aren’t just counting purchases; they need to analyze where these purchases are concentrated—think popular coastal cities or specific metro areas—and, crucially, how the purchases are structured. If you’ve ever heard of a shell company or a trust being used to buy property, that’s exactly what the GAO will be looking at. The goal is to figure out who the actual owner is when the deed is held by an entity that makes tracing ownership difficult. For regular folks trying to buy a starter home, this study could finally shed light on whether foreign investment is genuinely contributing to soaring prices in their area, a finding the bill cites as a key concern (SEC. 2).
The Real-World Impact on Your Housing Search
The biggest takeaway for anyone currently house hunting is that this bill recognizes and aims to quantify the issue of housing affordability. The GAO is specifically tasked with evaluating how these foreign purchases affect the availability and affordability of housing for U.S. residents (SEC. 3). If you’re a teacher or nurse in a high-demand city, struggling to compete against all-cash offers from opaque buyers, this study is meant to provide the hard facts needed to justify future policy changes. Furthermore, the study will address national security concerns, looking at properties purchased near sensitive government or military sites—a provision that could impact real estate markets in those specific, often less-publicized, areas.
What Happens After the Study?
This isn't just a research paper that gets filed away. Once the GAO delivers its report, the clock starts ticking for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Within 180 days, the HUD Secretary must review the findings and send Congress a separate report with specific policy recommendations (SEC. 4). This is where the rubber meets the road. HUD is tasked with suggesting ways to increase transparency—meaning fewer anonymous shell companies buying up homes—and, importantly, recommending measures to ensure U.S. residents can still easily buy homes. While the bill itself only initiates the study, these future HUD recommendations could lead to significant new laws affecting foreign investment, potentially changing how properties are bought and sold, especially for those currently relying on opaque structures to hold U.S. assets.