Strata Land launches as builders face land-capital squeeze

A new institutional land-capital player is entering the U.S. homebuilding market as deteriorating industry economics force builders, land sellers, and financial partners to reconsider who bears the risks of residential development.Wafra, a global alternative investment manager with approximately $30 billion in assets under management, and Hunt Companies, the nearly 80-year-old real estate investment enterprise, announced Monday the launch of Strata Land Partners. The new platform, led by former Landsea Homes president and COO Michael Forsum, will begin with projects totaling approximately 1,300 single-family lots and a mandate to provide flexible land financing to public and private homebuilders and developers nationwide. New-home demand remains under pressure, builder incentives and mortgage-rate buydowns continue to erode margins, and land prices have been slow to reflect the changed economics of homebuilding. With little evidence that demand-side challenges have bottomed out, builders face the prospect of difficult operating conditions persisting through 2027 and 2028, and potentially beyond. For builders, the stakes extend beyond securing capital to acquire and develop land. Th...