Where are all the home builders? What that means for the industry

Real Estate News admin September 10, 2026 0 Comments

Where are all the home builders? What that means for the industry

For shoppers in the new-home market, the choices aren’t what they used to be. There are still plenty of floor plans to choose from, but not as many builders.

When I first began writing this column in the mid-1970s, hundreds of builders plied their trade in the Washington, D.C., market where I was headquartered. Now, just 10 builders are responsible for 3 out of every 4 sales in the area, according to the latest tally from BUILDER magazine.

And elsewhere, the trend is even more pronounced.

In Miami, the 10 largest builders have an 89% share of the market; in Las Vegas, it’s 94%, the trade journal reports. And in Tucson, 10 builders own the entire market — 99.5%.

The largest builders in each market may differ. But on a national basis, the 10 largest were responsible for nearly 47% of all sales.

“Amid this tough business environment, when companies need to find efficiencies and economies of scale, the industry is experiencing increased levels of consolidation activity,” writes Rose Quint, a research economist at the National Association of Home Builders, in a July NAHB blog post.

More than 40% of the builders queried in a recent survey tell Quint they have not been on either end of merger-and-acquisition activity, neither offering nor receiving inquiries. But the rest report an uptick in M&A activity in their local markets, from 14% in August 2025 to 21% this June.

“A second finding also points to somewhat higher levels of M&A activity in the industry: The share of builders who have been approached for acquisition and/or merger doubled” during the same period, writes Quint.

Over the past two years, BUILDER notes, six public companies have been sold, and dozens of other smaller outfits also have been acquired.

One of the most recent transactions was Berkshire Hathaway’s $8.5 billion purchase of Taylor Morrison, the nation’s sixth-largest builder with nearly 13,000 closings last year. Warren Buffett’s Berkshire conglomerate already owns the Clayton Properties Group, a manufactured home behemoth with 10,000 closings in 2025. Berkshire also increased its stake in Lennar and D.R. Horton, the country’s largest builder.

In another major transaction, Stanley Martin Homes, No. 18 on BUILDER’s Top 100 list, acquired Holiday Homes, No. 62. Florida-based Holiday, which closed on 1,050 houses throughout the Sunshine State last year, will add more than 10,000 building sites to Virginia-based Stanley Martin’s lot count and add more than 40 existing communities to its portfolio. Meanwhile, No. 14 Dream Finders Homes of Jacksonville has paid $2.2 billion for Atlanta-based Beazer Homes, the country’s 21st largest.

But only a few of the deals are all-American transactions.

Stanley Martin is owned by Japan-based homebuilder Daiwa House, which acquired the Virginia-based company in 2017. Daiwa entered the U.S. housing market with that transaction, but it hasn’t stopped there. Daiwa took No. 66 Trumark Homes in 2020 and No. 48 CastleRock Communities in 2021. And earlier this spring, its Stanley Martin subsidiary bought publicly traded No. 56 United Homes Group, and Trumark purchased JK Monarch, a small Seattle-based builder.

Daiwa House, Japan’s largest builder specializing in prefabricated houses, has stated its goal is to increase its annual U.S. volume to 10,000 deliveries by the end of the year. It now has operations in the east under Stanley Martin, in the Midwest with CastleRock and out west with Trumark.

Meanwhile, Sumitomo Forestry has acquired Tri Pointe Homes, No. 19 on BUILDER’s list with nearly 5,000 closings, and Hajime Construction, a subsidiary of Iida Group Holdings, has taken a 51% equity interest in Wright Homes, a Salt Lake City builder. And that’s just this year’s activity.

Earlier, Sekisui House, a homebuilder itself, was on a multiyear buying spree. One of those deals was the $4.9 billion purchase of M.C.D. Holdings. And among other transactions, Sumitomo Forestry has become the majority owner of the DBR Group, No. 15 on the largest list.

ProBuilder, another trade publication, reports that Japanese firms have been responsible for 26% of all mergers and acquisitions in the building business since 2020. Still, they control only 6% of all closings.

Observers say the Japanese takeover of so many American firms make sense on several levels. On one hand, Lance Lambert of ResiClub, a research and analysis firm, points out, Japan’s domestic population is shrinking and aging. At the same time, America’s population continues to grow and form new households, especially in the Sun Belt where big U.S. builders operate.

“For Japanese firms seeking stable, long-duration growth, U.S. homebuilding offers scale and better demographic tail winds,” Lambert says.

He also cites what he calls a “strategic element” in that the domestic industry “fragmented beyond the top few public builders, creating opportunities for well-capitalized global players to roll up regional operators while preserving local brands and management teams.”

According to Margaret Whelan of Whelan Advisory, which works with housing companies pursuing growth, the Japanese takeover of the housing market is just beginning.

“The first wave of Japanese companies came in slowly and methodically and gained their footing,” she told BUILDER in a recent report. “They are now doing much bigger deals and there is a new wave of companies right behind them.”

Lew Sichelman has been covering real estate for more than 50 years. He is a regular contributor to numerous shelter magazines and housing and housing-finance industry publications. Readers can contact him at [email protected]