Brohn Homes Plants Flag in Houston With HistoryMaker Deal

One of Houston’s busiest homebuilders has a new owner — and a new hometown.

Austin-based Brohn Homes acquired the Houston division of HistoryMaker Homes, giving the Central Texas builder its long-awaited entry into the region. The deal closed Dec. 12, Brohn Chief Operating Officer Greg Barber told the Houston Business Journal, though the purchase price was not disclosed.

The transaction hands Brohn an instant footprint in Greater Houston, including a 30-person local team led by Roderick Flint and active or planned construction across 13 master-planned communities, according to the publication. Those include Sunterra in Katy, Attwater near Waller, Fulshear Lakes in Fort Bend County, Sierra Vista in Iowa Colony and Azalea in Pattison.

HistoryMaker has been a steady player in the Houston market. The Grapevine-based builder closed 247 homes locally last year and started 238 more, ranking 32nd among area builders by volume. The company entered Houston in 2016 and consistently expanded before this pull back to its core markets, according to the outlet.

Founded in 1949, HistoryMaker will now focus exclusively on Dallas-Fort Worth and San Antonio. CEO Nelson Mitchell framed the sale as a cultural fit, saying the companies’ shared values made the move a “natural alignment.”

The acquisition is a shortcut into Texas’ largest and most competitive housing market for Brohn — and one it’s had its eye on for years. The builder has operated in Austin since 2003 and was acquired in 2018 by Clayton Properties Group, a Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary and one of the country’s largest homebuilding platforms.

Brohn only expanded to San Antonio earlier this year, but Barber told the outlet that Houston has long been part of the growth plan.

The deal boosts Brohn’s headcount from 80 employees in Austin to about 110 across its Texas operations. Longer term, the company has set an ambitious target: Building 1,000 homes per year in the Houston area within five years.

That goal puts Brohn squarely in a crowded field dominated by national giants and well-capitalized regional players, all competing for lots, labor and buyers in a market that has cooled from pandemic highs but remains one of the nation’s most resilient.— Eric Weilbacher