A major homebuilding company reported disappointing delivery numbers for the first quarter on Thursday, falling short of financial analysts’ expectations as America’s housing affordability crisis continues to hurt sales.
Lennar, headquartered in Miami, Florida, saw its stock price drop 1.2% in after-hours trading following the announcement.
“Our first quarter of fiscal year 2026 was defined by the same persistent headwinds that have challenged the housing market for over three years — high mortgage rates, constrained affordability, cautious consumer sentiment, and geopolitical uncertainty, especially now including the recent conflict in Iran,” stated Stuart Miller, who serves as Co-CEO of Lennar.
The homebuilder completed construction and delivered 16,863 homes during the three-month period, falling short of the 17,677 homes that Wall Street had projected, based on LSEG data.
Companies that build single-family homes, including Lennar, have faced declining sales for multiple quarters as housing shortages from years of insufficient construction, combined with ongoing inflation, have driven up home prices significantly.
To maintain profit margins, the company has implemented cost-cutting measures and offered strategic incentives such as mortgage rate reductions to attract buyers.
Despite these efforts, confidence among U.S. homebuilders dropped for the second consecutive month in February, according to industry surveys, as high land costs, expensive construction materials, and home prices that remain out of reach for many buyers continue to weigh on the market.
The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market index declined by one point to reach 36 in February, staying below the neutral 50-point threshold for 22 months in a row.
Looking ahead, Lennar projects it will complete between 20,000 and 21,000 home deliveries in the upcoming second quarter, slightly below analysts’ forecast of 20,232 units.
For comparison, the company delivered 20,131 homes during the same quarter in 2025.
The homebuilder anticipates its second-quarter gross profit margin on home sales will fall to between 15.5% and 16%, down from the previous 17.8%.
When excluding one-time items, the company earned 88 cents per share in the first quarter, missing Wall Street’s expectation of 96 cents per share.
Total revenue for the quarter ending February 28, 2026, reached $6.62 billion, below the anticipated $6.88 billion that analysts had predicted.
