Inside Warren Buffett’s 2025 investments: Lennar, Chevron and Constellation

Throughout 2025, Berkshire’s investments have focused on brands with high exposure to consumers’ health and future prospects. American shoppers have held up well since the end of the pandemic, surprising some economists. Brian Moynihan, CEO of Buffett’s longtime Bank of America, said earlier this year that while consumers were starting to worry about their cash reserves, they continued to spend nonetheless.

While Wall Street and Silicon Valley were piling into AI stocks despite warnings of a bubble, Buffett and his successor Greg Appel were looking further afield for investment inspiration.

Some of Berkshire’s biggest investments this year have been in brands that likely qualify as must-haves for U.S. shoppers — or reflect their long-term goals.

For example, Berkshire’s latest filings reveal that it now owns about 7 million Lennar shares, a 265% increase from its previous stake. Lennar, one of the nation’s largest homebuilders, has seen its stock price decline 28% in the past year but now makes up just over 3% of Berkshire’s portfolio, with its total holdings between Class A and Class B shares now totaling more than $886 million.

However, actions taken by the White House this year have focused on getting the US real estate market moving again. In his continued push for a lower policy rate, president Trump has claimed that Fed Chairman Jerome Powell is “hurting the housing industry very badly.” “People can’t get a mortgage because of it,” Trump added.

While Chair Powell refrained from cutting interest rates in the early days of the Trump administration, the Federal Open Market Committee has since begun lowering interest rates and signaled an openness to further cuts in the future. While the federal funds rate does not determine the mortgage rates offered by lenders, lower borrowing costs should (as a general rule) ultimately lead to lower mortgage offers to consumers.

This monetary path falls on top of a fundamental supply and demand issue: housing supply shortages. According to a study conducted by the US Chamber of Commerce in 2025, America suffers from a “severe” shortage of more than 4.7 million homes.

The report adds that policies such as tariffs are not helping to solve the crisis: “Rising costs and limited supply are slowing the construction of new homes despite high demand – underscoring the need for strong and durable solutions to enhance supply chain resilience and stimulate construction to support housing sector growth and stability.”

Focus on consumables

Also on Berkshire’s purchase list is to increase its stake in Chevron, which Stockcircle reports rose by 3.45 million shares in the second quarter of this year.

The oil and gas industry has had a bumpy few years in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the supply problems that followed. However, in US markets specifically, the price of gasoline and fuel oil were the only two energy commodities to record negative inflation data over the past 12 months.

As prices stabilized for consumers, Bank of America noted that gas led spending growth last month. In a note, see it luckBank of America wrote that gasoline accounted for about a third of the growth in all consumer purchases last month. Spending contracted in the first three months of this year.

Elsewhere, Berkshire also increased its stake in drinks brand Constellation earlier this year. In the period ending in March, Berkshire’s stake more than doubled, rising to about 12 million shares worth $2.2 billion, compared with 5.6 million shares at the end of the previous year. Meanwhile, Berkshire has unloaded its investments in financial institutions such as Citigroup, doubling its investments in consumer-focused brands. While there may be a broader movement away from alcohol, Constellation Brands is growing its portfolio in non-low alcohol regions.