Earnings reports from public builders continue to reflect the challenging operating environment facing the housing industry. Affordability remains challenged by elevated mortgage interest rates while geopolitical tension is contributing to inflationary pressures and greater economic uncertainty. Demand for housing is stabilizing, though closings, revenue, and orders remain challenged while incentives remain prevalent.
These themes remained consistent in the financial results reported by Dream Finders Homes, the No. 14 company on the 2026 Builder 100 list, and Beazer Homes, the No. 26 company. For Beazer, a builder with a heavy focus on energy efficiency and sustainability, chairman and CEO Allan Merrill said the rising energy costs since the beginning of the Iran conflict “are readily evident to potential home buyers” and “contributed to the recent drop in consumer sentiment.” Dream Finders Homes chairman and CEO Patrick Zalupski reiterated the belief that the macroeconomic uncertainty and consumer confidence weakness are short-term challenges that can continue to be offset by disciplined operational execution.
Quarter by the Numbers
- Dream Finders Homes: Home closings declined to 1,870 in the fiscal first quarter compared to 1,925 in the prior-year period, contributing to a 13.7% decline in home building revenue to $837 million. A higher use of incentives and the resulting lower average sales price also contributed to the year over year decline in revenue. The builder grew net sales in the quarter by 19% to 2,408 with a cancellation rate of 7.5%, an improvement of 420 basis points compared to the first quarter of 2025. The company attributed the record level of quarterly sales and low cancellation rate to the effectiveness of its sales incentive strategies. For the quarter, Dream Finders Homes generated a profit of $13 million, or $0.11 per share, compared to $55 million, or $0.55 per share, in the first quarter of 2025.
- Beazer Homes: Home building revenue in the company’s second quarter, ended March 31, decreased 28.5% to $397.7 million. While overall sales declined, the share of to-be-built sales increased to 43% of total sales, the highest share since the first quarter of 2024. The decline was driven by a 29.8% in home closings to 757. Net new orders for the second quarter decreased 4.6% to 1,048 while the builder’s sales pace fell to 2.1 orders per community per month. For the quarter, Beazer reported a net loss of $0.9 million, or $0.03 per share, compared to a profit of $12.8 million, or $0.42 per share, in the same period a year ago. Beazer ended the quarter with 1,299 homes in backlog and 24,824 controlled lots.
What They’re Saying
“We continue to operate in a challenging environment as elevated mortgage rates and broader macroeconomic uncertainty have impacted affordability and consumer confidence across our markets. Despite these headwinds, I believe the team did an admirable job showing our ability to adapt pricing and incentive strategies to align with current market conditions, which enabled us to generate record net sales in the first quarter.” — Patrick Zalupski, chairman and CEO, Dream Finders Homes
“We remain committed to driving operational efficiencies and delivering high-quality, affordable homes that meet the needs of our customers. Although near-term conditions remain dynamic, we believe our disciplined approach and scalable platform position us to navigate the current environment and capitalize on opportunities over the long term.” — Zalupski
“Construction cost reductions, favorable community and to-be-built mix shifts, and increasing contributions from our newest communities continue to materialize. Macroeconomic headwinds and affordability challenges persist, but we have high conviction in our differentiated strategy and the underlying value of our assets.” — Allan Merrill, chairman and CEO, Beazer Homes
“In this environment, we could achieve a higher sales pace by increasing spec starts and offering more incentives. We think that would do a little more to spike revenue for a few quarters and burn through our valuable lot position. More importantly, it would undermine the progress we are making in getting paid for delivering a more efficient home and the industry’s highest rated customer experience…We have chosen to compete by offering a home built to lower homeownership costs as their key attribute. This is different from other builders, and we think that’s a good thing and a lot less risky than trying to outmuscle all the companies building lower feature homes.” — Merrill
