Stock market today: S&P 500 snaps 4-week losing streak in latest volatile week on Wall Street

Lennar stock fell as much as 4% on Friday after the homebuilder’s projected quarterly orders fell short of estimates due to a housing market that remains challenged by higher interest rates and uncertainty about the economic outlook.

The company said new orders for the current quarter would fall in a range of 22,500-23,500, lower than analysts’ estimated average of 23,800 homes.

Elevated interest rates and economic uncertainty drove the builder to reduce the average sales price, after incentives, to $408,000, marking a 1% decline from last year.

“While underlying demand for homes remains strong, actionable demand is limited by affordability and credit, which remain challenged by limited funds for down payments as well as income qualification for a mortgage,” Lennar’s CEO Stuart Miller told analysts and investors on the company’s first fiscal earnings call Friday morning.

As the spring selling season gets underway, Lennar highlighted that February saw a lack of “seasonal pickup,” prompting the builder to focus on adjusting incentives to drive activity. The builder implemented sales incentives of 13% this quarter, about 700 basis points above normal.

Mortgage rates have drifted lower this year from their highs of 7% but stagnated around 6.6%, giving prospective buyers little relief.

Executives said “all markets around the country require incentives to assist buyers in the current home buying environment.”