Big investor signals confidence in home construction
Warren Buffett’s investment giant Berkshire Hathaway bought numerous shares in D.R. Horton and Lennar, the two largest U.S. single-family homebuilders, in the first six months of 2025.
Buffett’s company said in a filing Thursday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it bought 1.5 million shares of D.R. Horton stock worth $192 million and 1.9 million shares of Lennar stock valued at $222 million. Those investments occurred in the first three months of the year. A report for the year’s second quarter shows Berkshire purchased another 5 million shares of Lennar stock worth more than $550 million, according to financial services firm Morningstar.
Lennar and D.R. Horton ranked first and second, respectively, among the country’s top single-family builders in 2024, the National Association of Home Builders said last month. Lennar held about 14% of the market share, and Horton had about 12%.
Car and furniture sales rose in July
Retail and food sellers saw an upswing in sales in July, particularly among car dealers and furniture stores, the U.S. Commerce Department said in a monthly report Friday.
Overall sales were up 0.5% from June and 3.9% from one year earlier. Since June, the biggest movement has been in motor vehicle and parts dealers, up 1.6%, and at furniture and home furnishings businesses, up 1.4%. Other retailers with over a half-percentage point improvement were gas stations, sporting goods and hobby stores, clothing and department stores and online vendors.
Commerce’s report said that it revised June’s overall retail and food sales increase from May to 0.9%, and 4.4% from one year earlier.
Regional Fed bank expects economy to grow
A survey of 36 forecasters said the economy will grow 1.3% during the third quarter of 2024, an improvement from an earlier estimate of 0.9%, according to a Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank report Friday. On an annual basis, the economy should see 1.7% growth for 2025, a 0.3% increase over the last survey three months ago.
Lower inflation and a dip in the unemployment rate factor into the forecast, the report said, although job growth is also trending downward. Unemployment was forecast at an annual average of 4.3% in the previous quarter’s survey; the new expectation is 4.2%. The forecasters see the annual rate of inflation settling at 3% for this year; the last survey was for 3.5%.
