How Outlier Homebuilders Build An Edge, Even In a Slow Market

This isn’t just a slowdown.

It’s not just a soft spring. Or a sticky-mortgage-rate summer. Or a little breather before another market run.

For homebuilding leaders, our current situation is deeper, more consequential, and more dangerous to ignore.

According to the Census Bureau and HUD, sales of newly constructed homes plunged in May, falling 13.7% from April to an annualized rate of just 623,000—6.3% below May 2024—and creating a nearly 10-month supply of unsold homes on the market. Median prices climbed to $426,600, while total inventory edged above 500,000. That mismatch between slowing sales and rising inventory is a clear warning:

Sellers who wait for market tailwinds risk being left holding too much stock—and higher carrying costs—as demand cools. Writes Robert Dietz, Chief Economist at the National Association of Home Builders:

New single-family home inventory continued to rise with 507,000 residences marketed for sale as of May. This is 1.4% higher than the previous month and 8.1% higher than a year ago. At the current sales pace, the months’ supply for new homes stands at 9.8 compared to 8.5 a year ago. Completed, ready-to-occupy new home inventory stood at 115,000 in May, up 29% compared to a year ago on a non-seasonally adjusted basis. However, this measure was higher at the end of 2024."

Consumer confidence didn’t offer any relief in June. The Conference Board’s index dropped 5.4 points to 93.0, erasing nearly half of May’s bounce, with expectations plummeting to 69 from 73.6—a level often signaling recession risk. Confidence in current business and labor market conditions also weakened. When potential buyers feel uncertain—and believe worse may lie ahead—they hold off. For builders, that mentality amplifies the urgency to outpace competitors with sharper tactics and tighter operations.

Margins are compressing. Incentives are losing their punch. Mortgage rates haven’t moved. Tariffs are stacking up. And even the Fed has thrown up its hands and hit pause.

What’s left is the raw reality: a highly uncertain market with more price cuts than price elasticity, where the only way to win is to get sharper—strategically and operationally—than the next guy.

Some builders are already adapting. Quietly. Effectively. Turning this slowdown into their advantage.

Those are the outliers. And they’re separating fast.

What They’re Saying in the Field

Here’s a composite of what we’re hearing from high-performing operators and strategic advisors across the country right now:

“Private builders are dropping prices and skipping buydowns entirely.”
“Some are just shutting it down for summer—pausing all new starts.”
“Others are so lean and fast they’re still closing deals with entry-level buyers fleeing high rents.”
"We can't buydown a mortgage low enough to move a townhome."
“Everybody wants to set up a land bank.”
“Build-to-rent builders are now pivoting to retail lots—BTR is looking retail for traction.”
“M&A interest is alive and well—strong builders want to buy share now, not wait.”

None of these moves is surprising. What’s different is how confidently builders navigate the chaos calmly.

They’re playing a different game altogether—because they’ve built systems that give them options.

The Outlier’s Advantage: Optionality + Execution

What sets outperformers apart in this kind of market?

Not luck. Not size. Not even necessarily brand recognition.

It’s optionality. And the ability to act on that optionality with speed, confidence, and discipline.

Outliers use downturns as a lever. They don’t react to headwinds; they build through them. While others focus on short-term pressure, they lock in long-term advantage by:

Making strategic land grabs while others pull back
Re-tooling product for margin and velocity
Standardizing operations for cleaner execution
Connecting the dots between trades, suppliers, capital, and customers

They’re not just doing more—they’re doing less better.

That's why Focus On Excellence, Oct. 27-29 at the Denver Four Seasons needs to be on your calendar now.

What Focus On Excellence Will Zero In On

The 2025 Focus On Excellence summit and workshop (Oct. 27–29 at the Four Seasons Denver) is designed to help builder leaders act on this Outlier Advantage. In hands-on sessions and peer-driven workgroups, participants will tackle:

Building durable trust between field leaders and data systems—so jobs flow with fewer breakdowns and more predictability.
Creating operational visibility from lot release to close—so leadership can act with facts, not assumptions.
Sharpening cost controls without blunting speed—so every dollar gets squeezed for value, not wasted on rework.
Making culture a performance driver—not a poster—by aligning teams around execution and accountability.
Improving speed-to-market across product types—through better vendor coordination and fewer handoff errors.
Preparing up-and-coming leaders to take the reins—by bridging experience with digital, AI, and data fluency.
Turning fragmented tech stacks into performance tools—so that CRM, ERP, estimating, and customer care systems connect.
Grounding all of it in what buyers want—clarity, speed, peace of mind, and homes that live up to the promise.

This isn’t theory. It’s what the most competitive, most resilient builders are already doing—and what others need to catch up to.

Fragmentation, variability, and opacity are the enemies of performance. And in a market this tight, they’re unaffordable.

So what do high-performing builders do differently?

They go under the hood and eliminate drag. They invest in interoperability—the connective tissue that links:

The Construction Stack (trades, suppliers, jobsite sequencing)
The Capital Stack (land strategy, financing, cost-of-capital management)
The Tech Stack (CRM, ERP, estimating, purchasing, scheduling)
The People Stack (leadership, field-to-office alignment, workforce readiness)

Interoperability isn’t buzzword fluff. It’s about getting the data to flow so decisions get better, faster—and so people can focus on execution, not chaos.

Velocity Isn’t New. It’s Just Rare.

Let’s be clear: None of this is a revelation.

Building fast, smart, and clean has always been the job. Velocity isn’t a new idea. Most builders lose the edge because their systems can’t support it.

Today’s buyers want:

Clarity—What am I buying?
Speed—When can I move in?
Confidence—Is this a mistake?

If your team, systems, and vendors can’t deliver those three things seamlessly, you’ll lose the sale—or bleed margin getting it.

High-performing builders are cutting friction at every hand-off. They map business processes, share data across departments, integrate digital tools, and build muscle memory for speed and accuracy.

They know that even if AI weren’t dominating headlines right now, the imperative to go digital would still be the same.

Because it’s not just about operational capability.

It’s about keeping up with your customers’ expectations.

Customer Behavior Is Changing Faster Than Construction

Digital transformation isn’t just about tools. It’s about matching the speed and nature of customer expectations.

Homebuyers today aren’t just comparing builders. They’re comparing you to the rest of their digital lives—how they bank, shop, and track their kid’s soccer schedule.

They want confidence. Peace of mind. A home they can trust.

If your internal operations don’t reflect that same level of speed, clarity, and control—you’re already behind.

Transforming operations is not enough. Builders must transform at the speed of their buyers’ expectations.

That’s the real competitive advantage now.

It’s Time to Control What You Can

This is not the year to try to outguess macroeconomics.

The Fed will do what the Fed will do. Tariffs may rise. Elections will stir uncertainty. But none of that should dictate your destiny.

Instead, control what you can:

Execution: Lean operations. Clean closings. Fewer rework loops.
Data readiness: Get your information out of spreadsheets and into systems that talk to each other.
People capability: Train and empower teams to act with agency and accountability.
Customer care: Make it part of the build cycle, not an afterthought.

Because when the market turns—and it always does—you want to be one of the few already operating at peak performance.

Don’t Waste A Good Slow Down

Yes, 2025 feels rough. Yes, it’s frustrating. Yes, some builders are shutting it down for the summer.

But the outliers are doing the opposite.

They’re using this slowdown to:

Reposition their products
Strengthen vendor alignment
Expand their lot pipeline
Train their teams
Tighten their systems

They’re not surviving the downturn.

They’re building through it—smarter, leaner, more connected.

And when the market rebounds, they won’t just participate. They’ll lead it.

Join us at Focus On Excellence.