Building Products: PulteGroup (PHM-US) – Read through from 2Q26 result

Research evidence excerpt

Building Products: PulteGroup (PHM-US) – Read through from 2Q26 result

Equity Research

23 July 2026 | 9:37AM AEST

AUSTRALIA INDUSTRIALS

Building Products: PulteGroup (PHM-US) - Read through from 2Q26

result

Bottom line Niraj Shah +61(2)9320-1369 | niraj.shah@gs.com

US homebuilder PulteGroup (PHM-US, covered by Susan Maklari) delivered a solid Goldman Sachs Australia Pty Ltd

2Q26, with order trends improving across four of its five regions and net new orders Sophie Yu

+61(3)9679-1076 | sophie.x.yu@gs.com

up 6% yoy. Momentum was led by Florida (+19% orders) and the Midwest, with Goldman Sachs Australia Pty Ltd

encouraging early signs in previously soft Texas (Dallas, Houston). The West (Las Alex Nosatti

Vegas/Arizona) remained the clear laggard. Incentives fell 50bps sequentially to +61(2)9321-8342Goldman Sachs Australia| alex.nosatti@gs.comPty Ltd

10.4%, with management explicitly calling the prior quarter the high watermark for

incentive loads. The company advanced its build-to-order transition (45% of orders

vs. 39% year-to-date last year) while declaring its spec reduction effort essentially

complete at 1.3 finished specs per community. However, management also noted

incentives will stay elevated on affordability pressures and warned the lumber-cost

tailwind (house costs -5% yoy to just under US$75/sqft) will fade in 2H26, with

oil-linked land-development costs (asphalt, piping, diesel) cited as a growing

concern. For REH and RWC, the read is incrementally more constructive in our view,

as incentives appear to have peaked and demand is finding a floor in select markets,

but with 30yr mortgage rates still elevated, the recovery appears fragile and uneven,

keeping any durable pickup in US new-construction demand gradual.

Key takeaways:

n Closings.