Key Takeaways
- • Compass Vermont's analysis finds corporate and private equity ownership of Vermont homes is small: entities owned 2% to 3% of residential properties each year from 2015 through 2025, per the Vermont Housing Finance Agency, and BatchData counts about 18% of single-family homes as investor-owned.
- • The Private Equity Stakeholder Project counts just 80 private equity-owned apartments in Vermont, the lowest of any state on its map, versus 579,608 in Texas.
- • Gubernatorial candidate Amanda Janoo's proposal to tax private equity and large corporate owners at the highest rates would likely reach a small number of Vermont properties, according to the analysis.
- • Federal ROAD to Housing Act bars for-profit companies controlling 350 or more single-family homes from further purchases starting Jan. 7, 2027, but leaves apartment buildings, manufactured homes and new build-to-rent homes uncovered.
- • Investor buying in Vermont spiked to 17% of 13,999 home sales in 2021 before falling to 7% by mid-2022, as interest rates rose.
Summary
Compass Vermont reviewed state and private ownership records and concludes that private equity and large corporate buying play a minor role in Vermont's housing market, contrary to claims by Amanda Janoo, the Democratic/Progressive candidate for governor. Janoo told WCAX on Oct. 1 that the highest tax rates should apply to private equity and large corporate ownership, which she described as one of the largest drivers of rising housing prices. Her platform would place such owners in a higher property tax class alongside luxury second homes, commercial vacation rentals and vacant investment properties.
The Vermont Housing Finance Agency found that corporations, partnerships and other entities owned 2% to 3% of the state's residential properties each year from 2015 through 2025, rising from about 5,000 to about 7,000 properties. That category includes nonprofits and government. BatchData estimates about 18% of Vermont's single-family homes are investor-owned, with about 82% of those held by individuals and about 91% held by owners of a single property. Owners with 1,000 or more homes bought one Vermont house in the last three months of 2025 and sold more than they bought in early 2026.
Nationally, the U.S. Government Accountability Office reported that 32 investors each owned more than 1,000 single-family rentals in 2022, about 450,000 homes in total or roughly 3% of the country's single-family rentals. These holdings cluster in fast-growing Sun Belt markets such as Atlanta, Jacksonville and Charlotte, where the GAO found large investors favor growing populations, dense rental clusters and newer homes. Vermont's population grew 0.2% from 2020 to 2025 according to the Census Bureau, and its housing stock is spread across small towns, so it does not match those criteria.
Vermont did see a temporary surge in investor purchases. According to VTDigger, citing CoreLogic data, investors bought 17% of the 13,999 homes sold in Vermont in 2021, up from 2% before 2016, the largest jump of any state. The share fell back to 7% by mid-2022. CoreLogic's definition of an investor includes anyone who owned three or more homes in the previous decade, so it also captures individuals with vacation properties.
Federally, President Trump issued an executive order on large investor home purchases in January, and the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act became law without his signature on July 11. Per legal analyses by Latham & Watkins and Greenberg Traurig, the law bars for-profit companies controlling 350 or more single-family homes from buying more starting Jan. 7, 2027, with penalties up to $1 million per violation or three times the home price. The U.S. Treasury must still write the rules. The law does not cover apartment buildings, manufactured homes, new build-to-rent homes or rehabbed homes rebuilt for rental. The Private Equity Stakeholder Project finds private equity owns about 13% of U.S. apartments in buildings of five or more units, though its Vermont count of 80 units is considered possibly incomplete. The 11 largest private equity apartment owners, led by Blackstone, Greystar and Starwood Capital, hold no publicly recorded Vermont apartments, according to Compass.
The analysis concludes that Janoo's forward-looking concern about corporate takeover of Vermont housing remains a judgment about the future rather than a documented current trend. Her proposed private equity tax class is unlikely to affect many properties, while higher rates on luxury second homes and commercial vacation rentals would more directly affect Vermont owners. The proposal lacks defined rates and would require a vote of the Legislature. H.607, a bill limiting large investor purchases of one- and two-family homes, received House committee hearings from January to March but never reached a vote.
The Vermont Housing Finance Agency found that corporations, partnerships and other entities owned 2% to 3% of the state's residential properties each year from 2015 through 2025, rising from about 5,000 to about 7,000 properties. That category includes nonprofits and government. BatchData estimates about 18% of Vermont's single-family homes are investor-owned, with about 82% of those held by individuals and about 91% held by owners of a single property. Owners with 1,000 or more homes bought one Vermont house in the last three months of 2025 and sold more than they bought in early 2026.
Nationally, the U.S. Government Accountability Office reported that 32 investors each owned more than 1,000 single-family rentals in 2022, about 450,000 homes in total or roughly 3% of the country's single-family rentals. These holdings cluster in fast-growing Sun Belt markets such as Atlanta, Jacksonville and Charlotte, where the GAO found large investors favor growing populations, dense rental clusters and newer homes. Vermont's population grew 0.2% from 2020 to 2025 according to the Census Bureau, and its housing stock is spread across small towns, so it does not match those criteria.
Vermont did see a temporary surge in investor purchases. According to VTDigger, citing CoreLogic data, investors bought 17% of the 13,999 homes sold in Vermont in 2021, up from 2% before 2016, the largest jump of any state. The share fell back to 7% by mid-2022. CoreLogic's definition of an investor includes anyone who owned three or more homes in the previous decade, so it also captures individuals with vacation properties.
Federally, President Trump issued an executive order on large investor home purchases in January, and the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act became law without his signature on July 11. Per legal analyses by Latham & Watkins and Greenberg Traurig, the law bars for-profit companies controlling 350 or more single-family homes from buying more starting Jan. 7, 2027, with penalties up to $1 million per violation or three times the home price. The U.S. Treasury must still write the rules. The law does not cover apartment buildings, manufactured homes, new build-to-rent homes or rehabbed homes rebuilt for rental. The Private Equity Stakeholder Project finds private equity owns about 13% of U.S. apartments in buildings of five or more units, though its Vermont count of 80 units is considered possibly incomplete. The 11 largest private equity apartment owners, led by Blackstone, Greystar and Starwood Capital, hold no publicly recorded Vermont apartments, according to Compass.
The analysis concludes that Janoo's forward-looking concern about corporate takeover of Vermont housing remains a judgment about the future rather than a documented current trend. Her proposed private equity tax class is unlikely to affect many properties, while higher rates on luxury second homes and commercial vacation rentals would more directly affect Vermont owners. The proposal lacks defined rates and would require a vote of the Legislature. H.607, a bill limiting large investor purchases of one- and two-family homes, received House committee hearings from January to March but never reached a vote.
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