Warren Buffett may be retiring as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway at the end of this year, but the investment decisions of the conglomerate still reveal a great deal about the Oracle of Omaha’s take on the economy.
Throughout 2025, Berkshire’s investments have focused on brands heavily exposed to the health and prospects of consumers. American shoppers have held up well since the end of the pandemic—to the surprise of some economists. Brian Moynihan, the CEO of Buffett’s long-held asset Bank of America, said earlier this year that while consumers were beginning to worry about their cash reserves, they were continuing to spend nonetheless.
And while Wall Street and Silicon Valley have been piling into AI stocks despite warnings of a bubble, Buffett and his successor, Greg Abel, have been looking further afield for investment inspiration.
Some of Berkshire’s largest investments this year have been in brands which likely qualify as essential for U.S. shoppers—or reflect their long term goals.
For example, Berkshire’s most recent filings reveal it now holds some 7 million shares in the Lennar Corporation, a 265% increase on its previous stake. Lennar, one of the nation’s largest home builders, has seen its share price drop 28% in the past year but now makes up a little over 3% of Berkshire’s portfolio, with its holdings between class A and B stock now totaling more than $886 million.
However, action from the White House this year has been focused on getting America’s real estate market moving again. In his continued lobbying for a lower base interest rate, President Trump claimed Fed chairman Jerome Powell was “hurting the housing industry very badly.” Trump added: “People can’t get a mortgage because of him.”
While Chair Powell refrained from lowering the rate in the early days of Trump’s administration, the Federal Open Market Committee has since begun lowering interest rates and has signaled an openness to reduce further in future. While the federal funds rate doesn’t set the mortgage rates lenders are offered, lower borrowing costs should (as a general rule) ultimately result in lower mortgage offers for consumers.
This monetary trajectory sits on top of a basic supply and demand issue: Housing is in short supply. According to a 2025 study from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, America has a “severe” shortage of more than 4.7 million homes.
Policies like tariffs aren’t helping the crisis, the report adds: “Rising costs and limited supply are slowing new home construction despite high demand—underscoring the need for robust and lasting solutions to strengthen supply chain resilience and incentivize building to support the housing sector’s growth and stability.”
Consumables focus
Also on the list of purchases for Berkshire was increasing its stake in Chevron, which Stockcircle reports was up by 3.45 million shares in the second quarter of this year.
The oil and gas industry has suffered a bumpy few years following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the ensuing supply issues. However, in U.S. markets specifically, the price of gasoline and fuel oil have been the only two energy commodities to post negative inflation data over the past 12 months.
With prices at more stable levels for consumers, Bank of America noted that gas drove spending growth last month. In a note seen by Fortune, BofA wrote that gasoline accounted for around a third of growth across all consumer buying last month. Spending had contracted in the first three months of this year.
Elsewhere, Berkshire also increased its stake in the beverages brand Constellation earlier this year. For the period ending March, Berkshire’s stake more than doubled, growing to about 12 million shares worth $2.2 billion, up from 5.6 million shares at the end of the prior year. At the same time, Berkshire offloaded investments in financial institutions like Citigroup as it doubled down on consumer-centered brands. While there may be a wider movement away from alcohol, Constellation Brands has been increasing its portfolio in the low and no-alcohol area.
