Berkshire Hathaway’s multibillion-dollar buy of Taylor Morrison to boost US housing market
While Chinese investors are turning away from America, the conglomerate’s US$6.8 billion cash acquisition could encourage more home sales
Berkshire Hathaway’s all-cash acquisition of home builder Taylor Morrison for US$6.8 billion is likely to trigger more investment in the US housing market, as institutional confidence in the segment encourages more home purchases in the world’s largest economy by local and overseas buyers, according to analysts.
The US-based conglomerate made the investment in May, deepening its bet on the US residential property market.
It marked the first multibillion-dollar acquisition under CEO and president George Abel, who was appointed to his current post in January after chairman Warren Buffett stepped down from his post overseeing the group’s operation.
“A cash-holding Chinese or Hong Kong investor can use the same logic to buy a single American property or a housing-related company with a decent yield,” said Kashif Ansari, founder and group CEO of Juwai IQI, which serves Chinese and other Asian buyers seeking overseas properties.
“Will other institutional investors follow the lead? Yes, undoubtedly,” Ansari said. “People who follow the housing industry see consolidation in the works. That means smaller companies are being bought up, all other things being equal, bigger ones.
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“Ultimately, there will be fewer American housing companies out there, and they will have bigger balance sheets.”
It was the 12th year in a row that Chinese buyers were the largest foreign investors in the US’ residential real estate, data from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) showed.
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The NAR has real estate professionals as members who cover commercial and residential properties from 1,200 local associations and boards in 54 US states and territories.
As of the first three months of the year, Juwai IQI’s data showed that the US was the fourth most popular country for Chinese buyers after Australia, Thailand and the UK, based on the number of inquiries that the firm tracked in the period.
The US was a top investment destination for Chinese buyers until 2021 but had dropped its ranking since then, according to Ansari.
In the 12 months ending March 2025, foreign buyers bought 78,100 existing homes worth US$56 billion in the US with investors from China accounting for 15 per cent, or 11,700 homes, with a total value of US$13.7 billion, according to the latest data compiled by the NAR.
Tensions between Beijing and Washington worsened following US President Donald Trump’s trade war with China that began in 2017. In his second term starting last year, Trump reignited the trade dispute with China, escalating tariffs levied on Chinese exports in a bid to revive manufacturing jobs in the US.
Despite the rift, agents said the US property market held several drawcards for Chinese investors, including its top-notch education, attracting Chinese students to enrol in American universities.
“Education has always been a big driver for Chinese home purchases in the United States,” Ansari said. “It’s no surprise that the US fell down the list of top destinations at the same time as the number of Chinese students studying in the US also dropped.”
The number of Chinese students studying in the US has fallen by 8 per cent since 2022, and 13 per cent since 2015, according to Ansari.
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Beyond education, the US property market remained “one of the most trusted vehicles” for global wealth transfers, according to luxury property agency Sotheby’s International Realty.
“What draws homebuyers, beyond returns, is the strength of the market itself – deep liquidity, transparent ownership and long-term value that holds up across cycles,” a spokeswoman for the group said.
The market is watching out for a potential interest rate increase in the US following quarterly projections released last month, with nine Fed officials anticipating a tightened monetary policy by the end of this year. An updated policy statement also removed language that indicated the likelihood of an interest-rate cut this year.
For buyers of upscale homes in the US, including Chinese investors, Sotheby’s Realty said they “have historically shown less sensitivity to rate movements than the broader market, in large part because a significant share purchase in cash”.
“This insulates their purchase decisions from financing costs altogether,” the spokeswoman said.
“Where any individual investor lands on timing is a conversation for them to have with their own adviser, not something we’d presume to answer on their behalf.”
Additionally, Ansari said that for investors looking to buy property in the US and planning to “get a mortgage from a US financial institution, then it would make sense to buy before rates go up, all other things being equal”.