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- Japanese builders are rapidly acquiring U.S. homebuilders—striking their third deal in a month
Japanese builders are rapidly acquiring U.S. homebuilders—striking their third deal in a month
This week, Japan-based Hajime Construction agreed to buy Utah-based Wright Homes. That comes just weeks after Tri Pointe Homes and United Homes Group were bought by Japanese builders.
Lance Lambert
March 13, 2026
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Japanese builders are rapidly acquiring U.S. homebuilders—now Hajime Construction is buying Wright Homes
Exactly one month ago today (February 13), Japan-based Sumitomo Forestry announced that it had agreed to acquire Tri Pointe Homes—a giant public homebuilder ranked No. 715 on the Fortune 1000—for $4.5 billion. Then on February 23, Stanley Martin Homes—which has been owned by Japan-based Daiwa House since 2017—announced that it has agreed to buy United Homes Group, which has a strong presence in the Carolinas, for $221 million.
On Tuesday (March 10), Japan-based Iida Group Holdings announced that its subsidiary, Hajime Construction, will acquire a majority equity interest in Utah-based homebuilder Wright Homes—and that Wright Homes will become a subsidiary of Hajime Construction.
While Hajime Construction’s acquisition this week of Wright Homes—a homebuilder that builds around 250 homes per year—is small compared to Daiwa House’s February acquisition (United Homes Group completed 1,431 single-family homes in 2024) and Sumitomo Forestry’s February acquisition (Tri Pointe Homes completed 6,460 single-family homes in 2024), it marks a further acceleration in Japanese builders’ buying spree of U.S. homebuilders.
The deals are really starting to stack up—see ResiClub’s Japanese builder acquisition tracker below 👇
Here’s a more detailed breakdown:
Daiwa House 🏡 🇯🇵 —> Japan-based Daiwa House has quietly built one of the most geographically diversified U.S. homebuilding footprints among Japanese builders. It entered the U.S. market in 2017 with its acquisition of Stanley Martin Homes, followed by the purchase of Trumark Homes (No. 67 largest U.S. homebuilder) in 2020. In September 2021, Daiwa House completed its acquisition of CastleRock Communities (No. 49 largest U.S. homebuilder), giving it a strong presence in Sun Belt markets in Arizona, Texas, and Tennessee. Together, Stanley Martin, Trumark, and CastleRock span Sun Belt and mid-Atlantic regions, and with Stanley Martin’s newly announced $221 million acquisition of United Homes Group, Daiwa House is further accelerating its U.S. expansion.
Sumitomo Forestry 🏡 🇯🇵 —> For Sumitomo Forestry—a Japan-based forestry, timber, and homebuilding company—its Tri Pointe Homes acquisition last month 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.
Hajime Construction 🏡 🇯🇵 —> Japan-based homebuilder Hajime Construction, owned by Japan-based Iida Group Holdings, in March 2026 announced a majority equity interest in Utah-based homebuilder Wright Homes Group.
According to ResiClub’s analysis, once the Tri Pointe Homes and United Homes Group acquisitions are completed, Daiwa House, Sekisui House, and Sumitomo Forestry will have a combined market share of at least 5.5% 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 (fast!), limiting long-term housing growth and risking a sharp contraction for Japanese homebuilding firms like Daiwa House, 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.
That narrative was reaffirmed by Hajime Construction’s parent company, Iida Group Holdings, in its Tuesday announcement.
“The Iida Group Holdings has thought of business expansion in overseas markets as one of the growth strategies since the domestic housing market is expected to the mature phase from the growth phase against the backdrop of a declining birthrate and an aging population. Wright Homes Group is a home builder engaged in development, construction and selling of detached houses, primarily in the northern part of Utah Lake in Utah, which is located in the western U.S. Wright Homes Group, competitiveness of which comes from land acquisition capability, provides housing chiefly for the first-time buyers and seniors aged 55 or older. Its business performance for the fiscal year ended December 2025 was: sales of $71 million and operating profit of $18 million. Utah is one of the U.S. states where the population has increased the fastest, with employment and income level exceeding the national average.”
Another factor is that many Japanese conglomerates have access to lower borrowing costs, which, in theory, gives them an advantage when buying companies abroad. Japan has had extremely low interest rates for decades due to persistent low inflation and slow growth. For much of the past decade, the Bank of Japan kept short-term policy rates at or below 0%.
The most resilient housing market heading into spring 2026: Winnebago County, Illinois
Among the nation’s 500 largest counties, Winnebago County, IL (county seat of Rockford, RL) has seen home prices rise the most year-over-year at +8.7%—see the screenshot below from the ResiClub Terminal.
Ever since the Pandemic Housing Boom fizzled out in mid-2022, many of the weakest patches of the U.S. housing market have been in the Sun Belt boomtowns that saw greater overheating. Those strained fundamentals, coupled with the rollover in pandemic-era domestic migration and a higher concentration of new construction—where builders are more willing to make affordability adjustments and offer discounts to move inventory—have caused those markets to weaken more. In contrast, many Northeast and Midwest markets were less reliant on pandemic domestic migration and have less new home construction in progress. With lower exposure to that migration pullback demand shock—and fewer homebuilders offering large incentives—some pockets in the Northeast and Midwest (including Winnebago County, IL) have stayed a little more resilient, especially those that still have relative affordability.
At the end of February 2026, active housing inventory for sale in Winnebago County, IL was still -62.7% below pre-pandemic February 2019 levels.
In other words, for every two homes for sale in Winnebago County, IL, back in February 2019, there’s only around one home for sale today in that county. It’s still a tight-ish market.
Firms that would like a demo of the ResiClub Terminal (where I pulled the screenshots above), should email [email protected]
Single-family REITs aren’t exempt from the 7-year selloff on new-builds, industry insider tells ResiClub
In our March 10 ResiClub PRO report, we noted that the Senate’s housing bill—which the Senate approved on March 12—still allows institutional landlords (those owning at least 350 single-family homes) to continue acquiring single-family homes through certain exceptions, such as build-to-rent or resale homes that require major renovations or repairs (defined as at least 15% of the purchase price spent on improvements). However, even if they do acquire homes through those exempted avenues, they would have to sell the homes to an individual buyer within 7 years. In our report, we also noted that the 7-year selloff wouldn’t apply if the investor is structured as a REIT and selling the property would trigger a “prohibited transaction” under REIT tax rules, which can carry a 100% tax penalty. In the article, we noted that it was still unclear whether that carve-out would effectively exempt companies like AMH—a single-family rental REIT—from the 7-year selloff requirement.
On Friday, we spoke with an industry insider (a pretty legit one!), who doesn’t believe single-family REITs like AMH and Invitation Homes would be exempt from the 7-year selloff on new BTR builds.
Under the Senate bill, according to that industry insider, institutions would be required to sell [future] newly built BTR properties under the 7-year sell-off requirement unless the sale triggers the REIT 100% prohibited transaction tax (bill page 294). However, the prohibited transaction tax is triggered only after the REIT sells over 10% of assets in a year, or with properties that are shortly-held or heavily renovated. So in other words, the only way they’d get that exemption is if they had already sold off 10% of their assets in a given year. If this industry insider is correct, that REIT exemption wouldn’t actually provide a work-around for single-family REITS on the 7-year selloff rule.
Note: As we’ve already covered, institutional landlords’ current portfolios are protected from the forced 7-year selloff, which instead applies only to additional homes acquired through the exempt avenues (build-to-rent and homes that require significant renovations). At least they are in the latest version of the bill (which could still change).
