Key facts
- Strata Land Partners will provide flexible land financing to public and private homebuilders and developers nationwide.
- Wafra manages approximately $30 billion in assets, but Strata's specific capital commitment has not been disclosed.
- Michael Forsum, former Landsea Homes president and COO, leads the new platform.
- Wafra managing director Ryan Brenner said the U.S. faces a structural shortage of housing.
- Forsum said builders continue absorbing mortgage-rate buydowns, incentives and elevated construction costs.
Wafra, a global alternative investment manager with approximately $30 billion in assets under management, and Hunt Companies, a real estate investment enterprise with nearly 80 years of history, announced on Monday the launch of Strata Land Partners. The platform 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.
Strata is led by Michael Forsum, former president and chief operating officer of Landsea Homes. Forsum told HousingWire that builders continue absorbing mortgage-rate buydowns, incentives and elevated construction costs, leaving land as one of the remaining places where development economics must adjust. He said there is emerging evidence that land valuations are starting to change.
Wafra's specific capital commitment to Strata has not been disclosed. Ryan Brenner, Wafra's managing director and head of alternative real estate, said in a statement that the U.S. faces a structural shortage of housing and that Strata will let builders deliver homes while navigating uncertain environments.
Forsum said privately held homebuilders often lack the financial capacity and flexibility of larger publicly traded competitors, which becomes more pronounced during a prolonged housing downturn. Public builders generally have greater access to corporate liquidity and financing arrangements that let them control future lots without owning all the underlying land, while private builders rely more heavily on banks, project-level financing and their own balance sheets.
Hunt brings a real estate operating and investment platform that includes its recent acquisition of View Homes, which CEO Natasha Gandhi is positioning for future expansion. Forsum's career includes operating leadership at KB Home, Ryland and Taylor Woodrow/Morrison, followed by residential private equity investment work at Starwood Land Ventures.