Red-hot demand for houses sounds like great news for homebuilders. But builders aren’t as thrilled as you might expect, and one builder is actually turning down orders.
Why it matters: Home prices have surged as low mortgage rates and the pandemic-era demand for more space sent buyers flooding a market that had limited supply.
- In June, existing-home sales rose in all major U.S. regions. The median price of a home sold was a record-high $363,300.
Driving the news: U.S. homebuilding giant D.R. Horton announced on Thursday that its quarterly revenue and earnings growth beat expectations thanks to demand.
- But new orders unexpectedly tumbled 17% to 17,952 homes from 21,519 a year ago. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg were expecting an increase to 22,385.
- “[W]e have slowed our home sales pace to more closely align to our current production levels,” company chairman Donald Horton said.
