Dive Brief:
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Japanese builder Sekisui House announced plans to acquire Salt Lake City–based Woodside Homes for an undisclosed sum. Woodside was one of the top 30 homebuilders in the U.S. by total closings in 2016 at 1,644 and with $603 million in revenue, according to the annual Builder 100 ranking.
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The deal, which is scheduled to close at the end of February, will expand Sekisui’s presence in the U.S. The company launched its North American subsidiary in 2010.
- Woodside Homes, which was established in 1977, has operations in Arizona, California, Nevada and Utah. Under the terms of the deal, it will retain its name, executive leadership and daily operations.
Dive Insight:
Japanese homebuilders are a growing presence in the U.S. as their domestic market languishes on a contracting population. Sekisui’s acquisition of Woodside is just the latest example of this trend.
In October, a U.S. subsidiary of the Japan-based homebuilder Daiwa House Group unveiled plans to buy Washington, DC-area homebuilder Stanley Martin for $251 million. Earlier that year, Japanese builder Sumitomo Forestry bought a majority stake in Dan Ryan Builders.
Sekisui House has been active elsewhere in the U.S. market recently. In December, along with joint venture real estate partner Roadside Development, the company snapped up the former Fannie Mae headquarters building, in Washington, DC, for $89 million, with plans to turn it into a mixed-use development. In 2015, the company bought a controlling interest in two Denver developments totaling 1,900 acres as well as a 1,200-acre community in Texas.
Japanese homebuilders are not the only ones tapping the U.S. market. Chinese investors are increasingly looking beyond major metros to markets like Seattle, Houston and Las Vegas for real estate buys. For example, the Beijing-based real estate investment company Grand China Fund is building a $60 million student housing project near the University of Texas at Austin.
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