Wading through talk of a slowing market, AI everything, and fearful buyers, Accelerate 2025 in Austin, Texas, gave new home sales and marketing professionals insight into how to cut through the noise.
Hoping to close sales, generate more leads, and inspire home buyers, the continued message of simplifying the home buying experience and personalizing digital marketing rang through. Read 12 takeaways from the two-day event, hosted by NewHomeSource and powered by Zonda, below.
- While the market is getting weaker, it is currently “fine.” Zonda and NewHomeSource chief economist Ali Wolf says that the market is favoring renting and sales aren’t as strong as originally forecasted for 2025. As supply builds up in markets like Arizona, Texas, and Florida, builders are using lots of incentives to close deals. There is hope for the "bank of mom and dad" helping now older first-time buyers a chance at purchasing a home.
- Design studio options need to be simplified. To make the decision process smoother for home buyers, Gena Kirk, vice president of corporate studio at KB Home, said, “Simplification is key.” Not only does simplifying the catalog of options and packages for buyers helps them from getting overwhelmed, it helps with affordability and the bottom line for builders, regardless of what size the builder is. Across the U.S., KB Home offers the same finishes and options to keep it simple and costs lower. Buyers who are relocating can find and select the same design options in their current location for a home in a new location, Kirk added.
- Gaining access to restricted website features is a top reason buyers will register for a website. Paula Huggett, partner at The Bokka Group, explained that buyers are most likely to register on home builder sites to gain access to design features and customization, followed by creating an account to save favorites, and email updates about plans, pricing, and promotions. Of course, these reasons varied among generations with Gen Z well surpassing other generations on having the ability to save favorites.
- It can take 100 days shy of a year to get a contract from an online lead. From the time a potential customer first visits a home builder website or views a new home advertisement to the day a contract is signed takes 263 days on average, according to Audience Town data. In a panel about navigating the digital home buying journey, Audience Town CEO Ed Carey said there are many opportunities to observe the customer starting with the awareness of a brand online all the way through considering floor plans and eventually visiting model homes.
- Single households are on the rise. Diving into actionable insights for today’s buyer, Zonda Advisory principal Mollie Carmichael shared the surprising fact that single led households are the fastest growing segment of buyers today as fewer young adults choose marriage compared to their parents. Additionally, 30% of today’s consumers would consider an attached home as their next home and 50% prefer a single-level single-family detached home.
- Marketing is storytelling. Swan Sit, former global head of digital marketing at Nike, Estée Lauder, and Revlon, explained the necessity of digital storytelling and using tech in a human way. She said to do the work, be human, and personalize messages based on the data. “Data is the new currency,” she said.
- To get online leads and new users, make it easy to sign up. Dennis O’Neil, president of ONeil Interactive, said that simple email entry is the quickest way to gather information without cumbersome information forms right out the gate. Giving people a reason to sign up—whether that’s being able to view customized design options or more transparent pricing—is also beneficial.
- Text message marketing is under utilized in the industry. Greg Bray, president of Blue Tangerine, said that SMS could be a marketing option to reach and reengage potential home buyers once they have entered a phone number online or visited a model home. “Spend more time on SMS,” Bray said. “I don’t feel like we’re adding enough of that in.”
- Top ranking websites use less AI, but SEO traffic is down regardless. Tom LeBaron, vice president of performance and growth marketing at Zonda, said that LLMs (Large Language Model) are generating the answers people need without someone clicking on a website to find the answer themselves. Websites are seeing traffic down 12 to 40%. He said that relevant and quality information will survive.
- If sales are lacking momentum, “do something.” Jeff Shore, founder of Shore Consulting, shared that sales are a result of behavior and the longer someone stays in a buying cycle without buying, the less likely they will. In the face of slow sales and a weakening market, Shore recommended reviving dormant sales skills like having the ability to create urgency; asking better and deeper questions; handling the tough objections; guiding decision making; closing skills; and follow-up.
- Don’t price buyers out of their dream home by decking out the model. “We don’t want to outfit models so high that a customer can’t afford it,” Kirk said. “We want to inspire them, but we don’t want to load them up out of reach.” As affordability continues to be a big issue for buyers right now, what’s attainable in finishes and features must be considered but not overdone.
- When crafting a marketing message, lean in. Diane Morrison, chief marketing and communications officer of Mattamy Homes, said, “It is just as much as an experience and journey for us too, but more than likely how you’re feeling, your customers are feeling too.
