Home Builder Business Robust at Start of Fourth Quarter
November 22, 2019
November’s Builder Intelligence Report, compiled by BTIG in partnership with HomeSphere, indicates home builders had a very strong month in October.
The majority of respondents reported year over year increases in sales and in traffic, while 46 percent noted that sales were above internal expectations. At the same time, lot costs appear to be accelerating while labor and material costs continue to grow for a large percentage of builders.
Highlights from the latest Builder Intelligence Report
Sales and traffic. Fifty-three percent of respondents, the best reading of 2019, reported year over year increases in sales compared to 45 percent in September and 39 percent in October 2018. Fifty-eight percent of respondents reported increases in year over year traffic, compared to 42 percent last month and 41 percent in October 2018.
Expectations. Forty-six percent of respondents described sales as better than expected while 24 percent of builders reported worse-than-expected sales. Those numbers compare to 33 percent “better” and 21 percent “worse” in September.
Pricing and incentives. Fewer builders are reporting using incentives, while 39 percent of builders raised most, all or some of their base prices, compared to 36 percent in September.
Input costs. Thirty-nine percent of builders saw lot costs rise month over month compared to 30 percent in September. Respondents also reported that 28% and 31% saw labor and material costs increasing, respectively.
HomeSphere/BTIG Builder Intelligence Report
HomeSphere partners with the research firm BTIG to create a monthly report to provide our builders and manufacturers with exclusive and timely insights about the market.
To compile the report, we survey HomeSphere’s 2,600 regional and local home builders about sales, traffic, pricing, labor costs and other key industry metrics.
How to get the monthly report
If you are a builder and would like to participate and receive the monthly report for free, request an invitation below:
