Why Berkshire Hathaway & Japan's Homebuilders are buying into U.S. housing

Modular accounts for roughly 15% of Japanese housing against about 3% in the U.S.; these firms run factory-build at scale at home and are importing both the competence and the capital that the fragmented U.S. industry cannot generate on its own. In late May, Berkshire Hathaway agreed to acquire Taylor Morrison for about $6.8bn in equity value (≈$8.5bn enterprise) — its first multibillion-dollar acquisition under Greg Abel, struck at a trough multiple of roughly ten times earnings against a market near twenty-one, with mortgage rates at their highest since the prior August and builders discounting heavily to clear inventory. Berkshire already owns Clayton Homes, among the country's largest producers of manufactured and modular housing, and has signalled an intent — itself a departure from its hands-off tradition — to unify its site-built operations into a single platform. In parallel, Japan's largest homebuilders have been accumulating American share.

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