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Want more housing market stories from Lance Lamberts ResiClub in your inbox? Subscribe to the ResiClub newsletter. Since the Pandemic Housing Boom fizzled out, major homebuilders across various marketsespecially in top pandemic boomtownshave had to cut net effective home prices to avoid a deeper sales pullback. However, some builders, like Lennar and D.R. Horton, have primarily done so through larger incentivessuch as mortgage rate buydownsin part to protect community comps and avoid upsetting buyers already in their backlog. Speaking to analysts on Tuesday, KB Homewhich prefers outright home price cuts over incentivessaid that some buyers turning to some of their competitors are effectively overpaying for new builds just to get rate buydowns, and if they need to sell in the immediate future, they might not be able to fetch the artificially high base price they paid. I believe that there are customers [of other homebuilders] that are overpaying for the home to effectively get an incentive. So they’re tied into this higher price that they’re gonna be stuck with forever until they sell that home. They may potentially be upside down when they try to sell that home versus a clean, simple, transparent way of sellingthe value of what we offer, KB Home COO Rob McGibney said on the builders June 23, 2025 earnings call. Below are ResiClubs other takeaways from KB Homes Q2 earnings report and earnings call this week. KB Home says the 2025 housing market is softer than expected KB Homes net new orders by Q2: Q2 2018 > 3,532 Q2 2019 > 4,064 Q2 2020 > 1,758 (COVID-19 lockdowns) Q2 2021 > 4,300 Q2 2022 > 3,914 Q2 2023 > 3,936 Q2 2024 > 3,997 Q2 2025 > 3,460 The actions we began to take late in our 2025 first quarter, evaluating base pricing in every community relative to local market conditions, then repositioning our communities with a focus on offering the most compelling value, led to strong net orders in March. However, our net orders declined in April and May, which did not follow the typical spring trajectory, said KB Home COO Rob McGibney. McGibney added that: As a result, even though our average community count was in line with our projection, and our cancellation rate was fairly steady, our monthly absorption pace per community was 4.5 net orders compared to 5.5 in last year’s second quarter. While our net order pace was below our internal goal, we believe it ranks high among the large production homebuilders. KB Home: All of the markets we operate in experienced some level of softening at some point during the quarter While the pricing story continues to be very local and vary a great deal across the country, most markets are at least seeing some softening. I would say that all of the markets we operate in experienced some level of softening at some point during the quarter, KB Home COO Rob McGibney told investors on Tuesday. Markets that I would say where we’re still seeing relatively strong demand and sales performance would be Las Vegas, the Inland Empire, the North Bay in Northern California, Texas markets like Houston and San Antonio. McGibney added that: By contrast, some of the markets that are facing some more significant headwinds recently are like Sacramento and Seattle. They’ve slowed down a little bit, and we’ve had to do a little more there with price relative to some of the others. Markets like Austin and Colorado, Jacksonville, Orlando, and Florida [have been weaker too]. Places where resale supply has increased and starts putting pressure on pricing and creating more competition and just more choices for buyers. But, you know, it is very local, very specific, [we] can’t put a market condition on an entire state or even an entire market in most cases, it’s community by community. KB Home had to make some bigger price cuts in markets where resale inventory is above 6 months On Tuesday, KB Home told analysts that it cut base home prices in half of its communities in the quarter ending May 31st. In the markets where you’ve seen resale inventory or resale supply get back to norms or above those norms of six or seven months of supplythose resales become a more formidable competitor than they were to us back when we would measure months of supply in terms of weeks instead of months. And on the flip side, most of the markets where resale supply has stayed fairly suppresed and limited, we’re tending to see better results there, KB Home COO Rob McGibney told analysts on Tuesday. Margin compression continues During the Pandemic Housing Boom, many publicly traded homebuilders achieved record profit margins as home prices soared and buyer demand ran red hot. Ever since the national housing demand boom fizzled out in the summer of 2022, many large homebuilders have reduced margin and made affordability/pricing adjustments where and when needed to maintain their sales pace or prevent a bigger sales pullback. That includes KB Home, which reported a housing gross profit margin of 19.3% in Q2 2025or 19.7% excluding inventory chargesdown from a cycle peak of 26.7% in Q3 2022. Its margin has now compressed all the way back to pre-pandemic 2019 levels. KB Home: Only two minor price increases [related to tariffs] to date So far, tariffs havent had much impact on KB Homes material costs. Homes that we started in May came in at the lowest cost per square foot year to date, as our divisions are continuing to drive better performance on cost. Our costs, including lumber, are protected for almost all of our third-quarter starts under the terms of our supply contracts. Our national purchasing team, working with our divisions, has done an excellent job holding off tariff-related cost increases, with only two minor price increases to date, KB Home COO Rob McGibney told analysts on Tuesday.
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E-Commerce
As Venice readies for Lauren Sánchez and Jeff Bezos’s multi-day wedding extravaganza, it’s no longer just gondolas floating around the city’s famous waterwaysit’s creepy Bezos mannequins as well. The long-awaited nuptials of the Amazon founder and the journalist is bringing flocks of celebrities including Oprah Winfrey, Ivanka Trump, and the Kardashians to the small city, booking most of the city’s elite water taxis, gondolas, and docks. While Venice has hosted star-studded weddings in the pastincluding that of Amal and George Clooneynone have drawn as much criticism, due in part to the event’s extravagant nature. For instance, just days before the wedding, the couple celebrated a foam party aboard their $500 million super yacht. Locals and internet activists have been rallying in protest of not just the wedding, but of Amazon’s labor practices, its founder’s mass accumulation of wealth, overtourism, and the disruption of daily lives for locals. As a result, organized efforts are giving the wedding party a not-so-warm welcome along the way. To keep up with the chaos, Fast Company rounded up some of the pre-wedding protests, breaking down some of the strange yet somewhat successful efforts. “No Space for Bezos” A nod to Bezos and Sánchez’s now infamous space-travel pursuits, “No Space for Bezos” is the unifying movement for activists opposing the local government’s alleged prioritization of tourism above local residents. The movement gained traction following a now viral stunt, draping St. Mark’s Square with a large banner reading “If you can rent Venice for your wedding, you can pay more tax.” Below the text was a large image of Bezos laughing. [Photo: Stefano Rellandini/AFP via Getty Images] Since then, grassroots efforts have plastered the city with banners across famous sites, and have gained the support of larger organizations like Greenpeace and U.K. group Everyone Hates Elon. Floating mannequins On the stranger end of protests, several mannequins resembling Bezos and Sánchez have been spotted around the Floating City’s canals. In one, the figures are dressed in wedding attire aboard a gondola, with a cardboard sign featuring Amazon’s logo. “The live versions are creepier,” one user commented on the TikTok video. Another viral video features a man throwing a mannequin held onto an Amazon package box into Venice’s grand canal. The mannequin appears to be wearing a blue suit resembling the one used on the infamous space mission, and is holding fake dollar bills. Online mockery Beyond the more organized protests, countless people have taken social media to mock the event, particularly a now leaked image of the wedding’s invitation. While the invitation asks guests not to bring giftsbut rather provide donations to Venice-related causes, including UNESCO Venice, CORILA, and Venice International Universityit gained attention due to its kitschy design. On the r/CrappyDesign subreddit, a now-deleted post of the invite drew ridicule and criticism, with one user commenting, “Youve got all the money in the world and you do an invite that looks like it was designed by a 10-year-old on MS Paint.” Another user on TikTok commented on the invitation, making a video saying, “You are shitting money every two seconds, I was expecting some Ambani-level shit, I was expecting opulence.” She added, “I need rich people to rich right.” What have the wedding planners said about the backlash? Reached for comment by Fast Company earlier this week, the events team that is organizing the wedding said it has aimed to minimize disruptions. It also emphasized that it has overwhelmingly hired locals to staff the event.
Category:
E-Commerce
Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Thomas Barkin said on Thursday tariffs are very likely to push inflation up over coming months, in remarks that said U.S. central bank policy is where it needs to be to deal with what lies ahead. I do believe we will see pressure on prices, Barkin told a gathering of the New York Association for Business Economics. When it comes to tariffs and their impact on price pressures, to date, these increases have had only modest effects on measured inflation, but I anticipate more pressure is coming, amid comments from businesses that they expect to pass at least some of the rise in import taxes imposed by President Donald Trump. That said, I dont expect the impact on inflation to be anywhere near as significant as what we just experienced during the pandemic and there are signs that consumers will try to move away from tariffed goods, which could limit some of the upsides for higher inflation. Last week, the Feds most recent gathering of the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee saw officials leave their overnight target rate unchanged at between 4.25% and 4.5%. Uncertainty over the outlook is keeping the central bank on the sidelines amid expectations the tariffs will push up inflation this year while depressing growth and hiring. In his remarks, Barkin noted the Fed is facing risks on both its job and inflation mandates. Citing the uncertainty of the outlook, Barkin declined to say where monetary policy is heading, while cautioning there are a number of scenarios in play for the central bank’s interest rate target and the exact timing of a rate move matter much less than many expect. While most Fed officials are in a wait-and-see mode and Fed Chair Jerome Powell reiterated that message this week in testimony before Congress, some officials on the Board of Governors have said they view tariffs as a one-time price increase and are open to cutting short-term interest rates at the late July FOMC meeting. Futures markets believe the Fed will cut rates at the September FOMC meeting. Barkin told reporters after his speech that policymakers should never take any action off the table, while adding he’s still seeking data to know what to do with interest rate policy. “Given the strength in todays economy, we have time to track developments patiently and allow the visibility to improve, Barkin said, adding, when it does, we are well positioned to address whatever the economy will require. Barkin also said that given inflation had been on a cooling trend at the onset of the tariff regime, hiking rates to contain price pressures “doesn’t seem like the topic of the day.” Barkin said that as the economy now stands things look pretty good and recent inflation data was encouraging. He said job growth has been healthy. Michael S. Derby, Reuters
Category:
E-Commerce
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