May rent trends run sideways as multifamily supply stays strong

Policymakers have been making the case that more supply is a better check on housing costs than rent stabilization. May apartment rental data backs up that narrative. Rents ticked up modestly last month, the fifth consecutive month of sequential growth. But May’s reading was the lowest for that month since 2010, according to apartment data […]

HUD pilots robotics-built housing and automated permitting

A pair of ultra-modest, little-noticed funding opportunities from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development may signal a new strategy taking shape in Washington. The Builder’s Daily has learned that HUD recently opened applications for two new demonstration programs totaling $13 million that target two of the industry’s chronic obstacles to delivering housing at […]

Akron looks to deflate minimum lot size rules to spur infill

Leaders in Akron, a heartland city nearly 40 miles south of Cleveland, hope to shed the city’s “Rust Belt” label and drive its emerging revival by making it easier to build new homes. To achieve the objective, planners believe they’re on the verge of eliminating minimum lot sizes to counteract a shrinking-city paradox. Population loss […]

Berkshire Taylor Morrison deal puts vertical integration in focus

Berkshire Hathaway’s planned acquisition of Taylor Morrison has opened the door for us to explore a set of uber-themed questions: about homebuilders’ present and future valuations, leadership and scale, and to the question that public homebuilder boards may now be asking: whether to build toward greater scale or join it. A related question may be […]

Who can buy a top-20 builder now? Berkshire resets board calculus

Berkshire Hathaway‘s planned acquisition of No. 6-ranked homebuilder Taylor Morrison begs big follow-on questions. These mostly spring from who this particular buyer is and the moment they have chosen. One way or another, these follow-up questions may prompt homebuilding leaders to revisit a core imperative many believed they had solved eons ago. For decades, the […]

Why Taylor Morrison’s integration playbook matters in builder M&A

Flashback Shortly after Sheryl Palmer became chief executive officer of Taylor Morrison in 2007, I met with her in Scottsdale, Arizona, to discuss a challenge that would have intimidated many experienced homebuilding leaders. The company she had inherited was not merely navigating the early stages of what would become the worst housing downturn in modern […]

Pennsylvania ADU bill clears House, heads to Senate

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro declared he intended to go big on housing. On Monday, at least one piece of that ambition cleared the state House with a bipartisan vote, setting up a tougher sell in the Republican-controlled Senate. The House passed House Bill 2186, requiring municipalities statewide to allow one accessory dwelling unit per residential […]