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Want more housing market stories from Lance Lamberts ResiClub in your inbox? Subscribe to the ResiClub newsletter. Just 10 days ago, on February 10, Japan-based Sumitomo Forestry announced that it had agreed to acquire Tri Pointe Homesa large U.S. homebuilder ranked No. 715 on the Fortune 1000for $4.5 billion, signaling that Japanese builders were further accelerating their buying spree of U.S. homebuilders. Fast-forward to today, and Stanley Martin Homeswhich has been owned by Japan-based Daiwa House since 2017announced that it has agreed to buy United Homes Group, which has a strong presence in the Carolinas, for $221 millionfurther accelerating Japanese builders buying spree of U.S. homebuilders. Japanese builders are quickly expanding their U.S. footprint through acquisitions. 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 Martins newly announced $221 million acquisition of United Homes Group, Daiwa House is further accelerating its U.S. expansion. Sumitomo Forestry: For Sumitomo Forestrya Japan-based forestry, timber, and homebuilding companyits Tri Pointe Homes acquisition this 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 (Americas No. 20 largest homebuilder). In April 2025, Brightland Homes (Americas No. 24 largest homebuilderwhich 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 (Americas 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 Househas also expanded into the U.S. with its homegrown Japanese builder brand, Shawood. According to ResiClubs 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. Why are Japanese firms making such a large bet on U.S. housing? At a high level, the answer is demographic and structural. Japans 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 formationparticularly 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. Theres 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 expertisea structure designed to preserve builder culture while providing financial and operational backing.
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E-Commerce
Dark Sky was a rarity in the app world. Universally beloved, the weather app had an uncanny ability to tell you when to expect rain, down to the minute. So when Apple announced plans to buy it six years ago, there was a collective sigh of frustration. The Android version, of course, disappeared almost immediately, while the iOS version was folded into Apples native Weather app. (The stand-alone iPhone app was discontinued.) The integration was never quite the same, though, and it seemed as if the magic of Dark Sky was lost. Now, however, the team behind the app is hoping lightning strikes twice. The developers of Dark Sky have announced a new iPhone app called Acme Weather, a tool meant to address the uncertainty inherent in meteorological forecasts. (An Android version is forthcoming.) “It is a simple fact that no weather forecast will ever be 100% reliable: the weather is moody, fickle, and chaotic. Forecasts are often wrong,” the team writes in its announcement blog post. “Rather than pretending we will always be right, Acme Weather embraces the idea that our forecast will sometimes be wrong.” In practical terms, that means Acme Weather, which comes with a two-week free trial and then costs $25 per year, offers its best estimate for a range of weather data points, including temperature throughout the day (as well as the feels-like temperature), dew point, humidity, and more. Those predictions appear as a dark line. Alternate possibilities appear as lighter shaded lines layered on top. The closer those lines are to each other, the more confident the forecast. A wider gap signals more uncertainty, suggesting you may want to monitor conditions more closely and check the app more frequently to see how things are trending. The homegrown forecasts, the team says, will be even more accurate than those in Dark Sky, thanks to a wide range of data sources, including numerical weather prediction models, satellite data, ground station observations, and radar. The app will also incorporate community reports, letting people share conditions in their area. That could be especially helpful during severe weather, as radar is not 100% reliable. It has trouble, for instance, recognizing the difference between freezing rain and snow sometimes. Reporting the weather is simple: Choose the icon that reflects current conditions. And, if youd like, you can add commentary by selecting an emoji to reflect how the weather feels. (Yes, the poop emoji is an option for particularly rough days.) Just note that by using the community reporting feature, you will disclose your location to other users. While the app doesnt reveal an exact address or identifying information, it does display your location on the map at the time of reporting with a fairly high degree of accuracy. (Community reporting is completely optional, but cannot be withdrawn once submitted.) The company, in its announcement, pledged not to collect unnecessary data, use third-party trackers, or sell user information to advertisers. The app also features the maps you would expect, including radar and lightning. It will offer rain and snow totals, hurricane tracks, and cloud cover. And, like Dark Sky, it will alert you when weather is approaching. This time, though, you can customize alerts based on what you care about, from rain to nearby lightning to the possibility of a rainbow or especially striking sunset. “Weve been making weather apps for 15 years, from Dark Sky to Apple, and this is the culmination (the acme?) of everything weve learned along the way,” the blog post reads. “Its the weather app weve always wanted, and always wanted to build.”
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E-Commerce
I want a space odyssey. I wanted Star Wars. I got close to that once. Thats production designer Hannah Beachler, talking about the grand filmic world she wants to build next. For our February episode of By Design, we spoke to Beachler (Creed, Black Panther) about her latest work with director Ryan Coogler on Sinnersthe most Oscar-nominated film of all time. We caught up with her last time before she bagged an Oscar on Black Panther and then designed the sequel. https://statics.teams.cdn.office.net/evergreen-assets/safelinks/2/atp-safelinks.html Shes up for her second Academy Award for production design on Sinners next month, and she shared the painstaking process she takes to build historically authentic and thematically rich sets, even when that means investing in details that the audience will never see. Oh, and for the first time, we put that entire interview up on YouTube, if you prefer to watch the interview rather than just listen. We also got into a lot of hot topics: saying farewell to the best and worst designs of the Olympics, breaking down what it means now that ads are on ChatGPT, and exploring the ins and outs of LoveFroms new collaboration on Ferraris Luce EV. And to cap things off? We pick a long-overdue fight with Microsoft Teams in a segment called Fix Your Shit. Have you ever met a single other human who liked that software? Neither have we. Listen to our latest episode on Apple Music or Spotify, and catch the video interview on YouTube.
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E-Commerce
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