Economic uncertainty, inflationary pressures, and volatile interest rates challenged consumer confidence and buyer psychology during the fiscal second quarter, providing notable headwinds for public builders.
Despite a challenging demand environment and subdued consumer confidence, M/I Homes, Dream Finders Homes, and Green Brick Partners each reported year-over-year growth in net sales orders, indicating that motivated buyers continue to enter the market. At the same time, all three builders reported meaningful improvement in cancellation rates, suggesting that buyers who sign contracts are more committed to completing their purchases despite ongoing economic uncertainty.
Quarter By the Numbers
- M/I Homes: Net orders increased by 15% to a second quarter record of 2,387 while deliveries and revenue declined by 6% and 9% to 2,206 homes and $1.1 billion, respectively. The builder ended with 2,426 homes in backlog, down 6% compared to the same period in 2025. M/I Homes had 234 communities at quarter’s end and recorded a second quarter cancellation rate of 8%. The builder generated a profit of $79 million, or $3.02 per share, in the quarter, down from a profit of $121 million, or $4.42 per share, in the same period a year ago.
- Dream Finders Homes: Home building revenue declined 8% in the second quarter to $1 billion, driven by a 8.9% decrease in average sales price to $438,171. The revenue declines were partially offset by a 3% increase in closings to 2,290. Net sales in the quarter increased 15% to 2,232 while the company’s cancellation rate improved 290 basis points to 11.1%. Dream Finders ended the quarter with a controlled lot pipeline of 54,091. The company generated a profit of $23 million, or $0.27 per share, down from $57 million, or $0.57 per share, in the same period a year ago.
- Green Brick Partners: Net new home orders increased 19% year over year to 1,079 units while deliveries remained essentially unchanged at 1,047 homes. The company generated home closing revenue of $471 million, down 11.4% compared to the same period a year ago. Incentives on new orders remained elevated at 9% while Green Brick’s sales cancellation rate improved to 7.8%. The company generated a profit of $74 million, or $1.70 per share, down from $82 million, or $1.85 per share, in the same period of 2025.
What They’re Saying
“In terms of product mix, we have seen a slight increase in the sale of our move-up product. Specifically, during the quarter, our Smart Series, which is our most affordable line of homes that caters primarily to the first-time buyer, accounted for 43% of company-wide sales. This compares to 52% a year ago. We believe the primary driver of our solid sales results is well-located communities and excellent product.” —Robert Schottenstein, CEO and president, M/I Homes
“The home building market continues to be challenging, but our teams have worked hard to identify opportunities to improve our cost structure with the goal of delivering more affordable homes to our customers. We believe costs will need to continue trend down, perhaps significantly, to have a meaningful impact on market-wide housing results… Additionally, in line with our growth initiatives, our year-over-year active community count increase of 30%—reaching 353 communities—was the strongest in the industry.” —Patrick Zalupski, founder, co-chairman, CEO, Dream Finders Homes
“Our second quarter results demonstrate the strength of Green Brick’s differentiated operating model where our growth is focused on building in our larger, self-developed master-planned neighborhoods where we believe we provide both affordability and upgraded amenities to our buyers. While affordability challenges and economic uncertainty continue to impact buyers, demand in our Texas markets remained strong.” —Jim Brickman, CEO and co-founder, Green Brick Partners
