New Home Sales Trends that Home Builders Need to Know

Last week, Audience Town attended the Pacific Coast Builder's Conference. While on-site, we had a great time meeting with experts in the industry, sharing our thoughts on-stage, and introducing our brand new capabilities (video here) to this incredible group.

In those conversations, two clear trends emerged that are shaping the home building landscape.

Two Trends Impacting Home Builders & New Home Sales in 2024

After a few days of engagement with countless industry leaders at last week's PCBC, two clear trends have emerged that are set to shape the home builders' outlook for 2024:

1. Summer Slowdown: Many home builders are witnessing a softer summer sales season, which they anticipate will continue. High interest rates and the uncertainties of an election year are major contributors, compounded by increased competition from resale inventory.

2. Land Acquisition Anxiety: Builders who purchased land over the past two years are now facing anxiety about holding risks and future sales, making the five-year forecast worrisome.

However, recognizing potential problems is only half the battle. Here’s the solution that top builders are using to navigate this evolving landscape:

How to Win: Embrace Data-Driven Strategy Across All Departments

Gone are the days of relying on gut feelings or outdated playbooks. With consumers becoming more educated and their behaviors changing rapidly, it’s crucial to leverage data for making sophisticated, dynamic strategic decisions.

Here are three key areas of the business where you can do that:

1. Land Acquisition & Design

‍Utilize real-time consumer data to understand the demographic composition of the market where the land was purchased. Traditional sources like the US Census data can't keep up with the pace of change. Modern data sources are essential for making strategy and design choices that align with market realities.

2. Marketing & Sales

‍Leverage marketing performance data and consumer demographics to identify high-quality leads and attract more of them. This approach ensures you get the highest return on investment (ROI) from your marketing and sales budget.

At the conference, John Peragine, CRO and co-founder of Audience Town, delivered an insightful presentation on this very topic. He shared that the two biggest challenges facing marketers at home builders are:

1. Gut Feelings Continue to Drive Decisions: Using gut feelings and outdated methods to drive marketing decisions.
2. Acquisition Confusion: Not understanding where leads are coming from and lead sources in silos.

Consumer data can deliver the clarity and insight you need - particularly when it's applied to your actual marketing performance and community sales.

For example, John explained that there are really two distinct audiences: upscale (or luxury) buyers, and market rate buyers.

Luxury buyers have different real estate preferences and expectations. For example:

Interested in more detailed consumer insights like this that can guide your marketing and sales strategy? Download the free presentation today:

3. Dynamic Pricing & Responsive Operations

‍Use pricing data to stay updated with real-time market fluctuations and understand their impact on downstream operations.

Some leading builders are changing their home's pricing regularly to reflect changing buyer preferences and market competition, with the help of powerful data analytics tools.

How to Leverage Data to Improve Your Home Building Business

The landscape for home builders is changing rapidly. So how can you navigate it efficiently and effectively?

The answer lies in adopting a more data-driven strategy across your entire organization.

Audience Town is your partner in this journey, providing the data and actionable insights you need to refine your strategy and achieve better results.

"We provide tools and simple simple dashboards and analytics to be able to measure everything within the marketing organization, from planning to attributable home sales."
- Ed Carey, CEO of Audience Town during a presentation on AI at the PCBC

‍Get in touch today to learn more about how we can help you navigate this changing landscape with confidence and precision. Book your risk-free demo.