wa-law.org > bill > 2025-26 > SB 5580 > Original Bill
The legislature finds that the acquisition of single-family homes and condominiums by private equity firms, real estate investment trusts, and other corporate entities is rapidly increasing in Washington, accounting for 22 percent of single-family home purchases in Washington in 2022, a 102 percent increase from 2020. The legislature further finds that corporate buyers often target lower-priced starter homes, typically located in neighborhoods with higher concentrations of families of color, working individuals, and single parent families. Leveraging significant financial advantages, such as purchasing homes with cash, these entities outcompete individual buyers and remove homes from the market, reducing opportunities for homeownership and increasing the risk of neighborhood displacement and gentrification. Once acquired, these properties are often converted into rental units or sold in bulk to other entities, permanently reducing the supply of affordable housing available for individual ownership.
This trend is making a profound impact on Washington's housing market with rapidly rising housing costs, diminishing affordability, and increasing challenges for first-time and lower-income buyers disproportionately impacting working-class families and communities of color.
The legislature finds that transparency is essential to understanding the dynamics of Washington's housing market and responding effectively to its challenges. While progress has been made through local rental registries, there remains a critical gap in tracking and analyzing the scale, nature, and impact of corporate and institutional ownership, particularly in the single-family housing sector. Currently, no centralized system exists to monitor these ownership patterns statewide.
To address this gap, the legislature intends to establish a corporate homeowner registration program within the office of the secretary of state. This program will require corporate entities to report ownership structures, property uses, and other basic information, ensuring accurate and timely data collection. This data will provide policymakers, local governments, and the public with the tools needed to make informed, evidence-based decisions to preserve housing affordability, equity, and accessibility across the state.
This act constitutes an exercise of the state's responsibility to protect and promote the health, safety, and welfare of Washington's residents. As such, it is intended to foster fairness and transparency in the housing market, mitigate the negative impacts of monopolistic ownership, and support measures to close the racial wealth gap and housing affordability crisis.
The corporate homeowner registration program is established at the office of the secretary of state.
The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise.
"Applicable housing unit" means a single-family residence or a condominium unit.
"Condominium" means real property, portions of which are designated for separate ownership and the remainder of which is designated for common ownership solely by the owners of those portions. Real property is not a condominium unless the undivided interests in the common elements are vested in the unit owners, and unless a declaration and a survey map and plans have been recorded pursuant to chapter 64.34 RCW.
"Corporation" or "domestic corporation" means a corporation for profit, including a social purpose corporation, which is not a foreign corporation, incorporated under or subject to the provisions of Title 23B RCW.
"Entity" means a foreign or domestic corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, government, governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality.
"Foreign corporation" means a corporation for profit incorporated under a law other than the laws of this state.
"Program" means the corporate homeowner registration program.
"Real estate investment trust" means an entity that owns or finances income-producing real estate as defined in 26 U.S.C Sec. 856.
"Secretary" means the secretary of state, or their designee.
"Single-family residence" means a structure maintained and used as a single dwelling unit. Notwithstanding that a dwelling unit shares one or more walls with another dwelling unit, a dwelling unit is a single-family residence if it has direct access to a street and shares neither heating facilities nor hot water equipment, nor any other essential facility or service, with any other dwelling unit.
Entities with an ownership interest in 20 or more applicable housing units in the state of Washington shall register with the program and report the following information:
Contact information for the entity including, but not limited to, the following information:
Name of the entity seeking registration;
Names under which the entity conducts business in the state of Washington;
Business address;
Phone contact information;
Electronic mail information;
Description of the ownership structure for the entity; and
Name, physical address of the entity's primary place of business, and contact information for any corporation, partnership, or other business entity that owns 10 percent or more of the entity;
Number of applicable housing units owned in Washington state;
Address for each applicable housing unit;
The end use for each applicable housing unit, which may include, but is not limited to, the following:
Rental property;
Lease-purchase agreement, as defined in chapter 63.19 RCW; or
Sale;
Purchase price for each applicable housing unit; and
A list of states and countries that the entity does business in.
The secretary shall determine the registration fee by rule. The fee revenue must be deposited into the corporate homeowner transparency account created in section 5 of this act.
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The entity's registration must be updated within 60 days after the sale is closed on any of the entity's applicable housing units.
Any change in information contained in an initial or renewal registration application must be updated within 60 days.
The following entities are exempt from subsection (1) of this section:
Banks and financial institutions that have acquired applicable housing units through foreclosure and possessed the applicable housing units for less than 12 months; and
Build to rent units.
The corporate homeowner transparency account is created in the custody of the state treasurer. All receipts from section 4(2) of this act must be deposited into the account. Expenditures from the account may be used only to administer the registration of entities that own or are divesting applicable housing units. The account is subject to allotment procedures under chapter 43.88 RCW, but an appropriation is not required for expenditures.
The secretary may adopt any rules necessary to implement this chapter.
(1) Money in the treasurer's trust fund may be deposited, invested, and reinvested by the state treasurer in accordance with RCW 43.84.080 in the same manner and to the same extent as if the money were in the state treasury, and may be commingled with moneys in the state treasury for cash management and cash balance purposes.
(1) Money in the treasurer's trust fund may be deposited, invested, and reinvested by the state treasurer in accordance with RCW 43.84.080 in the same manner and to the same extent as if the money were in the state treasury, and may be commingled with moneys in the state treasury for cash management and cash balance purposes.
Section 4 of this act takes effect January 1, 2026.
Section 7 of this act expires July 1, 2030.
Section 8 of this act takes effect July 1, 2030.