Meritage Homes, Century Communities, and Beazer Homes Report Quarterly Results

Public builders saw little shift in the housing market to close out the fiscal year in 2025, with soft consumer confidence continuing to weigh down buyer demand.

The fourth quarter results of Meritage Homes and Century Communities and the fiscal first quarter results of Beazer Homes echoed similar themes expressed by peers during the period, including D.R. Horton, NVR, and M/I Homes. Despite challenges, Century Communities expressed success in driving down construction costs and cycle time while Meritage Homes highlighted the benefits of technological investments and right-sizing overhead in the period. Beazer Homes is experiencing positive momentum from its focus on energy efficiency, indoor air quality, and solar power despite softer demand conditions in its December quarter. 

Meritage Homes

The fifth largest company on the Builder 100 list reported fourth quarter closings decreased 7% to 3,755 units and the average price of closings declined 5% to $375,000. For the full fiscal year 2025, Meritage Homes delivered 15,026 homes with an average sales price of $384,000, declines of 5% and 4%, respectively. The builder reported fourth quarter revenue declined 12% to $1.4 billion while full-year revenue declined 9% to $5.8 billion.

“Despite the tougher conditions, our 60-day closing guarantee and healthy supply of nearly-complete spec inventory contributed to another quarter of exceptional backlog conversation, at a rate of 221%,” Steve Hilton, executive chairman of Meritage Homes, said during the builder’s earnings call. 

Meritage Homes generated 3,224 orders in the fourth quarter, a decline of 2% compared to the fourth quarter of 2024. For the full-year period, orders remained essentially flat at 14,650 homes. 

CEO Phillippe Lord said the builder conducted an “in-depth review” of its option land during the period and elected to terminate certain positions to release capital to “top-grade” Meritage’s land portfolio as opportunities become available. 

“The recent slowing demand environment has presented opportunities to enhance our land portfolio in specific submarkets,” Lord said during the earnings call. “We observed land deals returning to the market, sometimes in more strategic locations and with more favorable structure. Although land prices have not significantly declined, we believe these alternatives will positively impact our long-term profitability.”

The builder reported a fourth quarter profit of $84.0 million, or $1.20 per share, a 51% decrease from the prior-year period due in part to lower closing revenue and gross profit. For the full fiscal year, profit decreased 42% to $453.0 million, or $6.35 per share. 

Moving forward, Hilton said the company’s 15% community count growth in 2025 positions Meritage Homes for market share growth when demand conditions improve. The builder also used the fourth quarter as an opportunity to focus internally on operations and efficiency. 

“Based on our current view of the market, we took action to right-size our overhead this quarter,” Lord said. “Building on a multi-year technology initiative focused on automation and process efficiency, we are now able to achieve improved back office productivity aligned with our move-in ready, all spec strategy.”

Century Communities 

The ninth-largest company on the Builder 100 list generated home sales revenue of $1.1 billion in the fourth quarter on 3,030 new-home deliveries, down from revenue of $1.2 billion and 3,198 deliveries in the same period a year ago. For the full fiscal year, home sales revenue decreased to $3.9 billion from $4.3 billion while new-home deliveries fell to 10,387 units from 11,007 units in 2024. 

Fourth quarter new new orders increased 9.5% year-over-year to 2,702 while full-year net new orders fell 3.3% to 10,326. 

“We performed well in a challenging environment during the fourth quarter, with our net orders and new home deliveries exceeding our expectations and increasing by 13% and 22%, respectively, on a sequential basis,” Dale Francescon, executive chairman, said. “While home buyers remain cautious given the current level of economic uncertainty, we think this quarter’s strength in orders and deliveries demonstrates pent up demand that continues to exist for affordable homes.” 

Francescon said the delivery volume of 3,030 new homes in the quarter benefit from a focus on increasing sales pace, particularly in older higher-cost communities and communities in closeout, through the use of financing incentives and price adjustments. 

“Our team’s accomplishments for the full year 2025 included reducing our direct construction costs on starts by an average of $13,000 per home, and cycle times by thirteen days to a new company record of 114 calendar days, with our faster build times allowing us to reduce finished spec inventory by nearly 30%,” said Francescon. 

Century Communities generated a fourth-quarter profit of $36.0 million, or $1.21 per share, down from $102.7 million, or $3.20 per share, in the same period a year ago. For the full fiscal year, the builder reported a profit of $147.6 million, or $4.86 per share, down from a profit of $333.8 million, or $10.40 per share, in the 2024 fiscal year. 

“Given our land spend over the past several years, assuming improved market conditions, we have the ability to grow our deliveries by 10% annually in 2026 and 2027 based solely on our existing lot count as of 2025,” Francescon said. “That said, we will remain disciplined if slower market conditions persist and will not look to grow either our pipeline or deliveries for the sake of growth alone.”

Beazer Homes

Revenue in the fiscal first quarter for Beazer Homes, ended Dec. 31, 2025, decreased 21.9% year-over-year to $359.7 million. The decrease was driven by a 22.8% decrease in home closings to 700 in the period. Net new orders in the quarter decreased 18.1% to 763 while the builder’s cancellation rate ticked up to 18.3% from 16.5% in the prior-year period. 

“We began fiscal 2026 in a stubbornly soft demand environment but stayed focused on actions within our control that can drive timely and measurable progress toward our 2026 and multiyear goals,” chairman and CEO Allan Merril said during the builder’s earnings call. “Our efforts were concentrated on proving the value of our differentiation, reducing direct construction costs, and enhancing balance sheet efficiency. While most metrics came in at or below our expectations, December is always our slowest month, and we have plenty of time to make up for the shortfall.”

The 23rd largest company on the Builder 100 list reported a net loss of $32.6 million, or $1.13 per share, in the quarter. Beazer allocated $180.7 million toward land acquisition and development in the quarter, down 14.5% from a year ago, as controlled lots decreased 14.0% to 24,832. 

During the earnings call, Merrill expressed optimism for the duration of fiscal 2026 due to improved internal efforts. The builder’s branding and lead generation efforts—focused on Beazer’s “Enjoy the Great Indoors” message—is resonating with buyers and can deliver lower utility bills. 

“We’re also extending our leadership in utility savings by introducing solar-included homes in many communities,” Merrill said. “This makes the full potential of zero energy ready homes an easy reality for our buyers. No complicated sizing decision. No cumbersome leases or guessing at payback periods.”

Beazer Homes is also actively experiencing efficiency gains that should improve its margin throughout the year. To date, the company has reduced labor and material construction costs by more than $10,000 per home. These efforts should be reflected in margins by the third and fourth quarters of 2026. Merrill said by the end of the fiscal year, Beazer projects another 100 basis points of margin expansion.