Episode summary
The Mormon Church Is Quietly Expanding Its Real Estate Empire | Bloomberg Businessweek
Bloomberg Businessweek Daily
· · 11 min · Hosts: Carol Massar, Tim Stenovec · Guests: Natalie Wong
Summary
The Mormon Church, through a web of subsidiaries and investment arms, has assembled a sprawling U.S. real estate portfolio that Bloomberg News estimates at at least 2.4 million acres, or roughly two Delawares, with an assessed value of just over $20 billion. Natalie Wong said the reporting started with farmland and temples, but expanded into housing, offices, luxury apartments, and master-planned communities in places like Florida, Colorado, Texas, and Arizona.
Wong argued that the church’s approach looks less like traditional religious property ownership and more like a long-horizon institutional investor. Brokers and investors described it as operating with a sovereign-wealth-fund mentality, backed by executives with real estate and finance experience and a willingness to pay all cash. That gives it an advantage in competitive deals and supports a strategy measured in decades, not years.
The reporting also highlighted a lack of transparency. Local residents and critics worry about traffic, water, wildlife corridors, and infrastructure, while disclosure rules vary by state and can obscure what the church owns and pays. Wong noted that the church’s broader investment footprint has drawn scrutiny before, including a 2023 SEC settlement tied to disclosure issues.
Key takeaways
- Natalie Wong said Bloomberg’s minimum count shows the church owns 2.4 million acres of U.S. land, worth just over $20 billion on public records alone.
- The church is moving beyond farmland and temples into housing, offices, and luxury apartments in high-growth corridors such as Florida, Colorado, Texas, and Arizona.
- Brokers and investors told Wong the church behaves more like a sovereign wealth fund than a religious institution, with a generational holding period of 50 to more than 100 years.
- Wong said the church can win deals by paying all cash and sometimes bidding above competitors, including Bill Gates-backed buyers.
- Local critics worry large developments could strain traffic, water, infrastructure, and wildlife corridors, while state disclosure gaps limit public visibility into the full portfolio.
Notable quotes
“They own 2.4 million acres, roughly the same as two Delawares. Um, and that has a property value assessed at just over$20 billion dollars”
“these are for-profit entities that are investing in their commercial real estate, for example, they say they operate more like a sovereign wealth fund”
“We have no clarity into as to how much they're investing in, what types of real estate that they're co-investing in”
“it all goes back to Utah. It all goes back to a centralized authority in Utah”
How the episode opens
Bloomberg Audio Studios podcasts radio news. — You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Tim Stenc on Bloomberg Radio. — It is one of the largest land owners in the United States and it's been known to outbid Bill Gates for land paying all cash.
Who are you talking about? We're talking about the Mormon church. — It's the subject of today's big take from Natalie Wong, commercial real estate reporter for Bloomberg News. She and Anna Choy wrote the Ann Choy wrote the story. Uh Natalie is here in our Bloomberg Interactive Brokers studio. Welcome. Welcome.
Thank you for having me. — Congratulations on this. Um I want there's there's a huge piece there's a lot of history here as well. I I want to start with what you and the team found today about the Mormon church's real estate footprint.
Sure. So really this project started because we had heard that the Mormons owned a lot of farmland, temples obviously, but that they were starting to do more housing potentially and buy offices or luxury apartments. And we wanted to figure out exactly how much they owned across the US.
And what we found out was they own a lot. They're one of the largest land owners. They own from what we can track, which is a minimum of, you know, publicly available records.
They own 2.4 million acres, roughly the same as two Delawares. Um, and that has a property value assessed at just over$20 billion dollars, but that is just a base amount. It's likely much higher than that.
So, let's get to the how. How have they accumulated so much? — They've been doing it for decades. You know, it really ties back to their early history. Uh, accumulating land, agriculture, farming, ties back to their early founder, Joseph Smith, and it's something that they've been doing for decades now.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- mormon church real estate
- lds church land ownership
- commercial real estate investment
- sovereign wealth style operations
- lack of transparency
Companies and tickers mentioned
- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Watch the episode
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
More from Bloomberg Businessweek Daily
-
Bloomberg Businessweek Weekend - November 13th, 2026 | Bloomberg Businessweek -
Inside Jensen Huang’s Final Hours as Nvidia CEO | Bloomberg Businessweek -
Jensen Huang's Exit Kicks Off Nvidia Strategy Reset | Bloomberg Businessweek -
Special Episode: Bobby Jain on Why He Chose Millennium Again | Bloomberg Businessweek -
Bloomberg Businessweek Daily Podcast: Jensen’s Nvidia Departure -
Take-Two Releasing Long-Awaited Grand Theft Auto VI Next Week | Bloomberg Businessweek
Bloomberg Businessweek Daily, this episode and its artwork belong to Bloomberg. Octagon is not affiliated with the show; this page is an independent summary.
