On February 25, Director of Intergovernmental Relations Dominic Butchko testified before the Environment and Transportation Committee in support of HB 1428 – Sale of Residential Property – Taxes and Offers to Purchase (End Hedge Fund Control of Maryland Homes Act of 2025).
This bill seeks to establish commonsense guardrails on large hedge funds and other Wall Street-backed firms, to prevent them from purchasing a disproportionate amount of any one county’s housing supply.
Maryland is facing historic challenges this legislative session. Uncertainty over the state economy, how changes in Washington will affect Marylanders, lags in affordable housing production, a budding energy crisis brought on by nearby high energy-users, and myriad other important issues all need to be addressed by legislators in 2025. The single thread that binds all of these issues together is that a more resilient, faster-growing, diverse economy will largely insulate constituents from some of the worst headwinds still beyond the horizon.
Counties applaud the intent of HB 1428. The challenges around affordable housing are multipronged, and to a meaningful extent are driven, or exacerbated, by the greed of out-of-state corporate interests looking to Maryland to profit from the widespread housing crisis. There is no silver bullet for lowering housing costs; Maryland needs a robust, diverse, and flexible strategy, including targeting the worst actors who artificially drive up the cost of housing and have no regard for the impact on local communities.
HB 1428’s cross-file, SB 582, was heard on February 26 in the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee. Dominic Butchko testified in support of this bill.
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