Dive Brief:
- Builder Magazine released its 2016 BUILDER 100 Thursday, which ranks the top 100 homebuilders in the U.S. based on home closings.
- Texas-based D.R. Horton tops the list, with Lennar Group, PulteGroup and NVR placing second, third and fourth, respectively — their positions unchanged from last year. CalAtlantic Group, resulting from the merger of Standard Pacific and Ryland Homes last year, made its debut at No. 5.
- Builder said the top 100 companies are responsible for 240,190 homes closed in 2015 and made $70.4 billion in total revenue. After adding in companies ranked 101 to 200 — the Next 100 — the entire list closed 261,372 homes ($99.3 billion), a 6% increase in closings and a 15% bump in revenue from last year.
Dive Insight:
Builder said the 200 homebuilders on its list also created 1,029,805 local jobs, in addition to sales and marketing staff and executives, and paid $21 billion in taxes and regulatory expenses.
The list is a mix of public, private and non-profit companies, and Builder said 23 public builders brought in 64.4% of closings and 65.48% of gross revenue — at $65 billion. A little more than 40% of homebuilders reported increased income, while 24% reported a decrease. In addition, the top 100 builders reported an average number of 668 employees, while the Next 100 reported an average of 78.
Builders on the top 200 list have kept their focus on the move-up buyer market, according to the magazine. This trend was largely the result of the housing crash eight years ago and has left first-time buyers feeling the pinch, as Zillow reported last month that available entry-level inventory plummeted 10% in the last year.
Despite calls to ramp up new home construction, builders have pointed to the regulatory burden as the main reason for the slowdown. A recent National Association of Home Builders study found that an average of 24.3% of a home’s final selling price is made up of local, state and federal regulatory costs.
