On Monday, Kb Home (Kbh) reportedA 17% drop in the net orders of the year of the year for its fiscal first quarter ending on February 28. The company also called on its average sales range of 2025 to 480,000 to $ 495,000. In January, he expected a range of $ 488,000 to $ 498,000.
KBH’s shares fell 4% in trading after the earnings report.
Nearby: March 28 at 16:00:02
“While the conditions for long -term housing markets remain favorable, driven by demographics and lack of homes, demand at the beginning of the spring season for sale is more muted than we have seen in the past few years,” KB Home CEO Effeefry Mezger told analysts and investors.
Many real estate agents and builders see Super Bowl weekend, which landed on February 8-9 this year, to be an unofficial shot for the highest houses and sales, which lasts until early June.
Mezger said the company usually sees pickup in net orders in late January and early February. This season, it has not come true, as a reflection of customer hesitation to buy a home.
As a result, KBH reduced the housing sales manual in 2025 to $ 6.60 billion to $ 7 billion from the previous forecast of $ 7 billion to $ 7.5 billion.
Overall, selling new homes from one family returned a little in February In the middle of warmth and falling mortgage rates. But it is unclear whether the momentum will last.
“If builders can find out what support to withdraw from an availability point of view, buyers and demand are there, but it won’t be as easy as it was,” Vedbush Securities Vice President Jayei McCans told Yahoo Finance in an interview.
This challenge is not the only one for KB Home. The second largest house building, Lenar, reported a small increase of 1% of net new orders from the year, totaling 18,355. However, the company envisioned lower than expected quarterly orders due to the heavy housing market.
When he reported the results of Q1 last week,Lenar (Flax) envision new orders between 22,500 and 23,500 for their second fiscal quarter, lower than analysts’ estimate of 23,800 homes. While the mortgage rates have declined slightly, they are still Hover about 6.7%Encouraging the builder to reduce the average sales price, after incentives to $ 408,000 in the quarter, marking 1% from last year.
“During the quarter, as we move at the beginning of February, we do not see the seasonal pickup usually linked to the start of the spring season,” Lenar CEO, Athonnan AffAF, told the call for earnings.
As a result, EverCore ISI analyst Steven Kim reduced Lenar in an outperform line, with a target price of $ 131, which is a $ 159, after a fiscal report for the first quarter. The reduction was driven by the second quarter of a gross margin lead of 18%, which dropped below expectations, attributing the drop in increased incentives compared to the first quarter.
The EverCore ISI claims that Lenar’s strategy to maintain the volume of stimulus will result in its profitability “at a dramatic depressive level”, wrote Kim.
To cope with availability, builders may need to adjust home sizes, limit options or “find other ways to lose price,” McCantale said. For example, they may replace the more extensive plans for smaller homes, such as exchanging plans 2,500-2,600 square meters for alternatives from 1,700-1,800 square meters.
The National Home Building Association warns that Trump tariffs could increase the cost of imported materials by over $ 3 billion, with builders estimating an average increase of $ 9,200 per home. (RJ Sangosti/Medianews Group/The Denver Post through Getty Images) ·RJ Sangosti/Medianews Group/The Denver Post through Getty Images through Getty Images
Another car care is President Trump’s executive order in force in April, imposing tariffs on Canada and Mexico building materials. The National Association of Homes’ Builders (NahB) It warns that this could increase the cost of imported materials by over $ 3 billion, with builders estimating an average increase of $ 9,200 per home.
This growing pressure contributes to increased uncertainty among smaller builders who become concerned about the prospects of the housing market.
Wolf’s research has highlighted this concern in a recent study by private builders, noting that while orders increased by about 22% month during the month of January, this growth was far below the typical average of 39% recorded in recent years. Smaller builders trust It also emerged in February, reflecting a three -point drop since January at the lowest level in seven months.
“At this point, they can drive much better demand without sacrificing a margin, they will probably need to appear in the form of lower mortgage rates or to regain their confidence in macroecology and in their state of employment, which both parts are really out of the hands of the construction,” Trevoro “for” Trevor “.
Dr -Horton (DHI), the biggest robbery of homes in the nation, should report its Fiscal second quarter Earnings on April 17.
Dani Romero is Yahoo’s Finance Rapporteur. Follow her on x @daniromerotv.
