Chandler lawmaker blocks Surprise colleague's home ownership bill

By Howard Fischer
Mail | X: @azcapmedia

PHOENIX - There won't be any cap on corporate ownership of homes in Arizona, at least this year.

The one bill given the best chance of approval - based on its Republican sponsorship - has been sidelined after it did not get a hearing.

Rep. Jeff Weninger, who chairs the House Commerce Committee, told Capitol Media Services there should be a discussion about whether the state needs to take action to ensure that private individuals have a reasonable chance to buy a home.

But the Chandler Republican who made the decision not to give it a hearing said he's not convinced that what's in HB 2325 is the way to go.

And without a committee hearing, the measure never got a chance to be debated by the full House, much less make it to the Senate - or the governor.

Rep. Nick Kupper, who crafted the proposal, said he remains convinced that there is a need for some guardrails to keep institutional investors from snapping up single-family homes before Arizonans have a reasonable chance of making a purchase.

And he believes that limit on corporations should be 50.

But the Surprise Republican said there isn't the time in this session to craft something that will meet his goals and still be able to get sufficient support to become law. So Kupper is now focusing his attention on bringing back the plan in 2027.

Still, he acknowledged there is likely to always be opposition by some Republicans to any legislation that seems to restrict the right of people to buy and sell what they want. And Kupper said that likely will continue to exist - even with President Trump publicly supportive of such limits on the national level what he is hoping to do here.

At the heart of the issue is the concern that institutional investors - corporations, partnerships, investment trusts and other legal entities - have been buying up homes as they go on the market. They generally have an advantage over families because they can make all-cash offers.

Complicating the problem is that many of these are turned into rentals. That, in turn, reduces the number of homes available for purchase, further driving up prices.

Kupper proposed a two-pronged approach.

One would give other would-be homebuyers first crack, prohibiting institutional investors from making any bids for the first 60 days a property goes on the market.

And the other would bar any such investor of owning more than 50 single-family homes in Arizona.

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Note: An earlier version of this story referred to  Rep. Jeff Weninger as a senator.