Experts all invest with the major trend!

In the United States, there is a real estate peer. Long ago, his father ran a real estate brokerage firm specializing in new-home sales. He himself may not have excelled academically; after dropping out of university at age 21, he joined his father’s brokerage to sell houses. After about one year selling new homes, he realized building and selling houses was far more profitable. With only $3,000 in personal capital, he successfully convinced a bank to lend him $30,000 to build houses himself. Was it absurd to think of becoming a developer with just $30,000? He knew full well it was not feasible. So instead, he began constructing small houses one by one using that $30,000. Soon, his first house was completed and sold for $43,500—roughly equivalent to the price of a small apartment in Phnom Penh today—earning him over $10,000 in profit. See how tiny this initial investment was—so modest that even salespeople in Phnom Penh today might look down on it. With those proceeds, he quickly built two more houses and sold them successfully. That’s why I admire his ability to spot trends, act decisively, and embrace risk. In 1946, following World War II, the U.S. entered the Baby Boom era. Over the next 18 years—until 1964—some 76 million babies were born, collectively known as the “Baby Boomer generation.” They accounted for roughly one-third of the U.S. population and remain the backbone of American society today. In the 1960s and 1970s, the booming toy, cartoon, and pop music industries flourished thanks to this generation. Then, in the 1970s and 1980s, as Baby Boomers entered their prime marriage years, demand surged for housing and automobiles. Financial innovations in the late 1970s lowered both the cost and risk of home purchases for consumers. In 1978, the American real estate peer I admire seized this opportunity and founded his own real estate company. Starting from that original $30,000 bank loan, he grew his business into one of America’s top four homebuilders—the youngest and fastest-growing among them. By now, many readers will recognize him: Donald R. Horton, founder of D.R. Horton, Inc. Under Donald Horton’s leadership, the company achieved in just twenty years what other firms took fifty years to accomplish—becoming America’s fastest-growing homebuilder. Beyond Horton’s rapid-turnover business model, he also happened to come of age during an exceptionally favorable era—what we call “the times make the man.” In the 1980s and 1990s, as Baby Boomers entered their peak consumption years, they drove explosive growth in personal computers and the internet. During this period, “Baby Boomers generated history’s largest stock market gains, housing demand, international air travel, personal computer adoption, internet infrastructure development, and demand for sports and leisure equipment.” Beginning in the mid-1990s, the first wave of Baby Boomers’ children started reaching home-buying age. Meanwhile, the Boomers themselves entered middle age—and the wealthier among them began upgrading to higher-end residences. Collectively, this generation fueled a real estate bull market lasting over six decades. Accordingly, Donald Horton rapidly expanded his real estate operations during this period, leveraging his rapid-turnover model to go public in 1992. In 1992, Cambodia had just regained independence. The first wave of astute and decisive Taiwanese and Japanese investors began buying land in Phnom Penh—at prices of approximately $1–$5 per square meter. By 2013, those same plots had soared to $1,200–$3,500 per square meter.

Who exactly is DR Horton—the homebuilder recently added to Warren Buffett’s portfolio?

In the early 1990s, the market share of America’s top five homebuilders rose steadily year after year, signaling the emergence of industry giants—and D.R. Horton aimed to become one of them. In 1992, D.R. Horton successfully went public, transforming into a joint-stock company and raising over $40 million through its IPO. In 1993, the company achieved $190 million in sales, ranking 24th among U.S. residential builders. D.R. Horton formally launched its acquisition strategy in 1994, operating then in 25 cities across 11 states. Between 1994 and 2002, the company acquired 17 residential builders. Acquired companies typically continued operating under their original names, while D.R. Horton centralized strategic oversight and coordinated subsidiary activities. These subsidiaries included Joe Miller Homes, Arappco Homes, Regency Homes, Trimark Communities, SGS Communities, and Cambridge Homes. Among these acquisitions were sizable builders—for example, Torrey Group, acquired in 1997, which enjoyed strong brand recognition in Atlanta—the largest U.S. real estate market at the time; and Schuler Homes, acquired in 2002, the largest acquisition in the company’s history. Integrating Schuler Homes enabled D.R. Horton to establish dominant market positions across California, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, and Hawaii. Through mergers and acquisitions, the company rapidly expanded its footprint—from Texas into the U.S. Southeast, Mid-Atlantic, West Coast, and Southwest. These acquired subsidiaries retained considerable operational autonomy, giving the company a decentralized corporate structure. Yet, from its headquarters in Arlington, Texas, D.R. Horton gradually centralized overall management—especially after establishing a national customer service department in 1998, when all administrative functions—including accounting and finance, human resources, and information technology—were brought under centralized headquarters control. By the end of the 1990s, D.R. Horton had posted uninterrupted annual growth in revenue, number of homes built, and quarterly net profit for 21 consecutive years. Revenue climbed from $869 million in 1995 to $1.5 billion in 1997, then to $3.1 billion in 1999—the year Professional Builder magazine named D.R. Horton its “Builder of the Year.” By 2000, the company had become America’s third-largest homebuilder, operating 50 divisions across 23 states. Entering the new millennium, aggressive expansion continued. In 2002, capitalizing on an industry downturn, D.R. Horton generated $6.7 billion in revenue, selling a total of 29,761 homes, and posting net income exceeding $400 million—a 57% increase over 2001. It was from this year onward that D.R. Horton ascended to the top spot in U.S. homebuilding volume—and has held that position ever since.

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