Dive Brief:
- Homebuilding giant D.R. Horton announced this week its plans to buy Wilson Parker Homes for $90 million cash, according to HousingWire. Wilson Parker operates in Georgia, Arizona and the Carolinas.
- The deal includes 490 lots, 390 in-stock homes and 300 homes as part of Wilson Parker's sales-order backlog, assets that are primarily located in the Atlanta area and that will boost Horton's market share there to more than 20%.
- Wilson Parker's homes average $222,000 for about 2,700 square feet, and company sales of 906 houses for the year ending June 30, 2016, brought in $201 million in revenue.
Dive Insight:
This acquisition further solidifies D.R. Horton's status as the nation's largest homebuilder and adds to its own 26-state, 78-market operation. The deal will allow the company to expand its business into the Southeast and Southwest, according to HousingWire.
The Wilson Parker acquisition is positive news for the company, which has been dealt a few regulatory blows in the last several months. In May, a Jacksonville, FL, jury ordered D.R. Horton to pay $9.6 million to repair construction defects in one of its local condominium developments after it found that Horton acted with negligence in relation to the 240-unit complex. And last month, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined D.R. Horton and one of its subcontractors a total of $107,000 for fall protection violations on an Ocala, FL, construction site.
D.R. Horton, based in Fort Worth, TX, is the nation's largest homebuilder and once again topped the Builder 100 list this year. Builder Magazine noted earlier this year that the homebuilding company's supply of controlled lots dwindled last year — echoing an industrywide concern of a lack of available lots. This recent acquisition will help D.R. Horton grow its portfolio and increase its buildable area.
