Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent faced backlash over a video clip in which he suggests that some retiring Americans have purchased “five, 10, 12 homes.”
Bessent spoke with Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo at the World Economic Forum Tuesday when he discussed President Donald Trump’s ban on large institutional investors buying single-family homes. He said that the ban doesn’t apply to individual buyers.
“So the ban on institutional investors and single-family homes — for those of who are not American — in the U.S., pre-financial crisis, institutional investors did not participate in the single-family market,” Bessent said. “Post the financial crisis, institutional investors Hoovered up single-family homes. They continue to do it.”
“So we think that it is a good idea to have them out of the market,” Bessent said. “We’re going to give guidance at some point to see what is a mom and pop? Someone — maybe your parents — for their retirement, have bought five, 10, 12 homes so we don’t want to push the mom and pops out, we just want to push everyone else out.”
A snippet of Bessent at the forum, giving an example of someone buying five, 10, 12 homes, began circulating on social media later Tuesday. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D-CA) press office account on X shared the sound bite from the video to criticize the hypothetical scenario.
“Scott, people are trying to buy 1 house — to live in. Could the Trump Admin be any more out of touch?” the account posted on X Tuesday.
Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) made a sarcastic comment about Bessent’s background.
“Just your everyday soybean farmer, Scott Bessent, explaining that mom and pop save for retirement by buying 12 homes. This man is so out of touch it hurts,” Gallego wrote on X Tuesday.
Bessent is the son of a real estate mogul in South Carolina. As an adult, Bessent founded the New York-based investment firm Key Square Group. However, Gallego’s comment prompted others to comment on Bessent’s lifestyle.
“Let’s ya know what world he lives in,” actor Chris Meloni wrote on X Tuesday.
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This comment comes as the median age of first-time home buyers is 40 in the United States. Additionally, the share of first-time home buyers dropped to a record low of 21%, the National Association of Realtors reported, based on a survey of transactions from July 2024 through June 2025.
The Washington Examiner has reached out to the Treasury Department for comment.
