Buying into American and Australian homebuilding (2009–2024)

Many mid-sized builders rather than one large one

The logic of this decision followed directly from the company’s oldest habit. Having secured an outlet for its timber at home by building houses, it found that outlet capped once Japanese housing starts began their long decline; growth had to come from housing markets elsewhere. What distinguished the approach was its shape. Rather than acquire a single national builder, Sumitomo Forestry consolidated mid-sized builders one region at a time — Texas, Maryland, Utah, South Carolina, the Southeast, then Victoria and the rest of Australia — keeping local brands and local managers, so that no one regional downturn could take the group with it.

That diversification of risk came at the price of complexity. Nine groups acquired over fifteen years must eventually be integrated, and the 2025 reorganisation that placed Brightland under DRB was the first admission that a portfolio assembled piecemeal needs a structure. Overseas now supplies close to 60% of revenue, which means a company whose earnings once turned on Japanese timber prices turns instead on American mortgage rates. Owning the whole chain has always been this company’s answer; the open question is whether a chain stretched across three continents still behaves like one.