This Billionaire Builder Wants To Make Homes Affordable

It’s a terrible time to be a homebuyer. In 2023, mortgage rates spiked to levels not seen since 2008 and, despite coming down in recent months, remain higher than they’ve been in more than two decades. Home prices have also skyrocketed, up 30% nationally on average over the past four years while real median household income has stagnated.

Yet, given a nationwide shortage of at least four million housing units, according to the National Association of Realtors, it’s a great time to be a homebuilder. There simply aren’t enough homes.

Since 2008, Smith Douglas Homes has built 304 communities in five states. Sales hit $765 million in 2023. Shares of Smith Douglas, which Tom Bradbury took public on the New York Stock Exchange in January, are up 56% since then. The 80-year-old Bradbury, who still owns 88% of the stock, wants the company to continue on as the "low cost quality provider of housing with choice".

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