While many local housing markets in mid-2026 remain choppy and Lennar CEO Stuart Miller on Friday described buyer traffic as "inconsistent" with low urgency, he also says he believes the worst of the margin pressure may be behind them this cycle. Lennar reported a gross margin of 15.6% for Q2 2026—down from the prior year but up from 15.2% in Q1 2026, reflecting the homebuilder's elevated incentives and affordability-driven pricing adjustments. Lennar's sales incentive rate—a

The all-important spring housing market is well underway, but expectations are falling short due to the war in Iran and its impact on both the U.S. economy and consumer sentiment. Mortgage rates, which were previously forecast to be far lower this spring than last, are now much higher, and concerns over employment and inflation are throwing cold water on pent-up homebuyer demand. Buyers in the first quarter of this year were more concerned about the economy and mortgage rate

This chart shows construction put in place still sitting near historic highs but the growth rate has collapsed and turned negative. In plain English: projects are finishing, but new ones aren’t replacing them. Momentum broke before the headlines did.Here ’s the tension most investors are missing:Construction dollars stayed high because 2021–2022 projects were already financed.But YoY growth going negative tells us the pipeline behind today’s deliveries is thinning fast.Rent