The Commercial Real Estate Alpha Site

Knock knock… US homebuilding big shots KB Home and Lennar drop earnings this week. Both topped quarterly earnings estimates in March, fueled by demand for new cribs (housing supply = low). Lennar’s new-home orders jumped 28% in the quarter, while KB Home’s net orders soared 55%. But higher mortgage rates have pushed both companies to cut home prices to get buyers off the sideline. Last month US homebuilder sentiment fell for the first time in six months as builders had to sweeten incentives. Price cuts could make it tough to nail down strong profit growth.