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- Japan-based firms accelerate U.S. homebuilder buying spree with $4.5B Tri Pointe Homes acquisition
Japan-based firms accelerate U.S. homebuilder buying spree with $4.5B Tri Pointe Homes acquisition
On Friday, Japan-based Sumitomo Forestry announced it has agreed to acquire Tri Pointe Homes—a U.S. homebuilder ranked No. 715 on the Fortune 1000—for $4.5 billion.
Lance Lambert
February 13, 2026
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Japan-based firms accelerate U.S. homebuilder buying spree
On Friday, Japan-based Sumitomo Forestry announced it has agreed to acquire Tri Pointe Homes—a U.S. homebuilder ranked No. 715 on the Fortune 1000—for $4.5 billion. The all-cash deal values Tri Pointe at $47 per share, representing a 28.5% premium to its closing price on Thursday ($36.57).
Once completed, Irvine, Calif.-based Tri Pointe Homes (America’s No. 15 largest homebuilder) will operate as a distinct brand within Sumitomo Forestry’s growing U.S. homebuilding network.
And this isn’t an isolated move.
Sumitomo Forestry 🏡 🇯🇵 —> For Sumitomo Forestry—a Japan-based forestry, timber, and homebuilding company—this Tri Pointe Homes acquisition meaningfully accelerates its U.S. expansion goals, including its stated target of delivering 23,000 homes annually in the U.S. by 2030. In 2016, Sumitomo Forestry became the majority owner of DRB Group (America’s No. 20 largest homebuilder). In April 2025, Brightland Homes (America’s No. 24 largest homebuilder—which Sumitomo Forestry acquired a majority stake of in 2016) consolidated into DRB Group.
Sekisui House 🏡 🇯🇵 —> Japan-based homebuilder Sekisui House, operating in the U.S. under SH Residential Holdings (America’s No. 6 largest homebuilder), has also been on a multiyear U.S. homebuilder buying spree. Since 2017, Sekisui House has acquired homebuilders Woodside Homes, Chesmar Homes, Holt Homes, and Hubble Homes. In April 2024, Sekisui House really shook up the industry when it acquired M.D.C. Holdings (Richmond American Homes) for a staggering $4.9 billion. Sekisui House has also expanded into the U.S. with its homegrown Japanese builder brand, Shawood.
According to ResiClub’s analysis, once the Tri Pointe Homes acquisition is completed, Sekisui House and Sumitomo Forestry combined will have at least a 4.3% share of U.S. single-family home construction.
So why are Japanese firms making such a large bet on U.S. housing?
At a high level, the answer is demographic and structural. Japan’s domestic population is shrinking and aging, limiting long-term housing growth for Japanese homebuilding firms like Sekisui House and Sumitomo Forestry. The United States, by contrast, continues to experience population growth and household formation—particularly in the Sun Belt markets where many big U.S. homebuilders operate. For Japanese firms seeking stable, long-duration growth, U.S. homebuilding offers scale and better demographic tailwinds. There’s also a strategic element. The U.S. homebuilding industry remains 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. Both Sumitomo Forestry and Sekisui House say they prioritize locally led operations, supported by centralized capital and global expertise—a structure designed to preserve builder culture while providing financial and operational backing.
Now, let’s take a closer look at Tri Pointe Homes’ business.
Pulling from the ResiClub Terminal—where our clients can find the local footprints of America’s largest homebuilders going back over a decade—we can see that Tri Pointe Homes’ biggest concentrations are in markets like L.A., Sacramento, Seattle, the Texas Triangle, Phoenix, and Las Vegas. In recent months, Tri Pointe Homes has also begun expanding into Florida (New Smyrna Beach).
Tri Pointe Homes’ net new orders, by Q3:
Q3 2013 —> 767
Q3 2014 —> 803
Q3 2015 —> 996
Q3 2016 —> 932
Q3 2017 —> 1,268
Q3 2018 —> 1,035
Q3 2019 —> 1,291
Q3 2020 —> 1,933
Q3 2021 —> 1,349
Q3 2022 —> 681
Q3 2023 —> 1,513
Q3 2024 —> 1,252
Q3 2025 —> 995
During the Pandemic Housing Boom, many publicly traded homebuilders achieved record profit margins as home prices soared and buyer demand ran red hot. Once the national housing demand boom fizzled out in the summer of 2022, many large homebuilders including Tri Pointe Homes made affordability adjustments where and when needed to maintain their sales pace. That, of course, compressed margins.
Given how much margin compression has already occurred—and with affordability conditions still constrained—Tri Pointe Homes has shifted its focus to “price over pace.”
For Q4 2025—which Tri Pointe won’t report until February 24, 2026—the company anticipates its homebuilding gross margin percentage will be in the 19.5% to 20.5% range (pretty close to its Q3 2025 margin).
“Market conditions remained soft throughout the third quarter.”
“All the builders have a little bit more inventory than what they anticipated. We'll burn through that inventory going into the first quarter of next year and then get to a more balanced approach. Demand is very inelastic, and we're going to continue to focus on price over pace as we go into the new year. We're just assuming similar market conditions.”
Two bonus charts:
Around 40% of U.S. homeowners are mortgage-free—up from 33% in 2010. One major driver is that the U.S. population is aging as the large Baby Boomer generation grows older and fertility rates decline. Older Americans, of course, are more likely to own their homes outright.
U.S. existing home sales totaled 223K in January 2026. Simply put, turnover still remains strained in the existing-home market.
When applying NAR's seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) to the data, it comes out to a 3.91M pace. That'll likely come up a tad in the coming readings (in calendar year 2024 and 2025, we did 4.06 million U.S. existing home sales).
In the real world, the nationally aggregated housing market is moving into the seasonal window when U.S. existing home sales begin their seasonal upswing.
