PulteGroup CEO Ryan Marshall told CNBC on July 28 that “it’s a pretty good housing market right now,” a notably upbeat assessment from the head of the nation’s third-largest homebuilder even as the company’s own second-quarter results, reported the week before, showed home sale revenue falling 11% year over year to $3.8 billion.
PulteGroup’s second-quarter 2026 results, released July 22, showed earnings of $2.48 per share on total revenue of $3.983 billion, both ahead of Wall Street estimates. Home closings fell 8% year over year to 6,997 units, and the average sales price dropped 3% to $544,000, pushing home sale gross margin down to 25.0% from 27.0% a year earlier.
The revenue and closings declines were offset by stronger demand signals elsewhere in the report. Net new orders rose 6% year over year to 7,536 homes, with order value up 5% to $4.1 billion, and the company’s backlog grew 2% to 10,966 homes worth $6.8 billion. On the earnings call, Marshall struck a more measured tone than his later CNBC appearance, saying “market conditions remain highly competitive as macroeconomic uncertainty, volatile interest rates and strained affordability weigh on housing demand, but there are early signs that conditions may be stabilizing in select geographies around the country.”
Regional performance varied sharply. Marshall pointed to Florida as a standout, with orders there up 19%, and described solid demand in Midwest and Carolina markets, while Western markets remained softer β a pattern consistent with RealtyWire’s recent reporting on Florida’s home sales streak even as national new-home sales have shown only modest, uneven gains.
For the full year, PulteGroup guided to 28,500 to 29,000 home closings at an average price of $550,000 to $560,000, with gross margins expected in a range of 24.5% to 25.0% β implying management does not expect a near-term rebound in per-unit pricing or margin, even as order volume improves.
What it means: Marshall’s “pretty good” characterization is his own subjective read on demand and order trends, not a claim about the company’s reported revenue or margin figures, which are down from a year ago on a verified, reported basis. The two data points are not in conflict: order growth and a larger backlog point to improving underlying demand even as closings from a smaller prior-year backlog and lower average prices are still working through the income statement. Florida’s relative strength within Pulte’s order book is a builder-specific data point, not confirmation of a broader regional trend, though it lines up directionally with other Florida housing data RealtyWire has covered this month.
What to watch: Whether PulteGroup’s improving order trends convert into higher closings and pricing power in the second half of 2026, and whether other national builders reporting later this earnings season echo Marshall’s more optimistic public tone.
