The news: Housing starts fell 11.4% MoM in March, per the US Census Bureau. That’s the biggest drop in over a year, and an ominous sign for an industry already reeling as high interest rates and home prices depress demand.

Sales are weak: D.R. Horton, the country’s largest homebuilder, is hardly more upbeat: The company saw a “slower than expected” start to the 2025 spring selling season as potential buyers were “more cautious due to continued affordability constraints and declining consumer confidence,” executive chair David Auld wrote in the company’s Q2 earnings release.

• D.R. Horton has had to increase incentives to prospects to “get them off the fence,” CEO Paul Romanowski said during the earnings call. Even so, home sales and revenues during the quarter fell 15% YoY.
• The company’s disappointing Q2 performance led it to cut its FY forecast. The company now expects to sell between 85,000 and 87,000 homes, a downgrade from its prior forecast of 90,000 to 92,000.