Berkshire Hathaway CEO Greg Abel has built up the conglomerate's housing exposure even as the sector struggles, buying all of Taylor Morrison Home for $6.8 billion and lifting Berkshire's stake in Lennar after the stock dropped sharply. The moves echo Warren Buffett's long-standing habit of buying unloved but historically well-run businesses and holding through the downturn.
Greg Abel, Berkshire Hathaway's CEO, is expanding the conglomerate's bets on homebuilders at a time when Wall Street has turned against the housing sector. Rising home prices push the dream of home ownership out of reach for many people, and rising interest rates make the story even worse by increasing the cost of taking out a mortgage.
Abel buys into a battered Lennar
Lennar shares have plunged over the past year as Wall Street punished the homebuilder for weak near-term performance. Abel stepped in when the stock traded roughly 40% below its 52-week high. That purchase built Berkshire's ownership stake in Lennar to roughly 10%.
That purchase follows an even larger move. Earlier this year, Berkshire bought all of Taylor Morrison Home for $6.8 billion, a sizable bet on a housing market that is struggling right now. Still, people will always need a place to live, and many would likely buy a home if they could afford it.
Why Berkshire can afford to wait
Berkshire's size gives Abel room to be patient. The conglomerate held more than $350 billion in cash at the end of the second quarter of 2026, financial strength that lets it stick with investments even when the story takes years to play out. Abel is, in effect, using Wall Street's negative view of housing to build a long-term position in a sector that history and human nature suggest will eventually recover.
The Buffett playbook, continued
None of this breaks from how Berkshire has always operated. Former CEO Warren Buffett was known for making big investments in companies that were deeply unloved but historically well-run, bets that often looked like mistakes in the short term before the businesses recovered. Judged against that record, it is too soon to call Abel's housing bet a miscalculation.
Source: The Motley Fool
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