PulteGroup Profit Falls to $476 Million as Closings Drop 9% and Home Sale Gross Margin Narrows to 24.8%

PulteGroup reported third-quarter 2026 results on Thursday for the quarter ended Sept. 30, with net income of $475.7 million, or $2.53 a share diluted, down from $585.8 million, or $2.96 a share, a year earlier.

Total revenues were $3.97 billion, down 9.8% from $4.4 billion a year earlier, with the percentage calculated by TickerGrove from the statements in the release. Home sale revenues were $3.86 billion, against $4.25 billion a year earlier. The nine-month comparison runs the same direction: net income of $1.29 billion, or $6.79 a share diluted, against $1.72 billion, or $8.55 a share, in the first nine months of 2025. The release presents reported results only; it offers no separate adjusted earnings figure, and none is constructed here.

Fewer closings did the damage; prices barely moved

Closings fell 9% to 6,876 homes from 7,529 a year earlier, while the average sales price of homes closed slipped 1% to $561,000 from $564,000 - a volume quarter in reverse: the revenue decline came from delivering fewer homes, not from cutting prices. Net new orders totaled 6,208 homes, down 6% from 6,638, with a value of $3.5 billion against $3.6 billion a year earlier, even as the average community count rose 7% to 1,077. The backlog grew instead of shrinking: 10,298 homes valued at $6.4 billion at quarter-end, up 4% in units and 3% in value from 9,888 homes and $6.2 billion a year earlier - future deliveries already sold, even as current demand softened.

Margin gave back more than a point, and overhead absorbed more of each sale

Home sale gross margin was 24.8%, down from 26.2% a year earlier, and the reported figure includes $26 million, or approximately 70 basis points, of land impairments recorded in the period. Selling, general and administrative expenses were $397 million, essentially flat against $401 million a year earlier, but equal to 10.3% of home sale revenues against 9.4% last year because the revenue base shrank. Financial services operations generated pre-tax income of $46 million, comparable with the prior year, and the mortgage capture rate was 85%, up from 84%. President and chief executive Ryan Marshall said: "With homebuying demand increasingly pressured by rising mortgage rates, widespread inflation, and global unrest, we continue to benefit from our diversified operating platform and consistent strategies for delivering superior returns over the housing cycle." He added that with more than 60% of the business now comprised of more profitable move-up and active-adult homebuyers, strong gross margins were instrumental to driving the quarter's earnings of $2.53 a share. "The rapid increase in interest rates has stretched affordability even further, made selling an existing home even harder, and has pushed even more consumers to the sidelines," Marshall added, saying the company continues to balance price and pace, align production accordingly, and remain disciplined in its allocation of capital.

Buybacks continued, and the open questions sit with orders and land

PulteGroup repurchased 2.8 million shares in the quarter for $350 million at an average price of $124.70 a share, and 8.4 million shares for $1.0 billion at an average price of $123.51 through the first nine months, equal to 4% of shares outstanding. The company ended the quarter with $1.4 billion of cash - cash and equivalents of $1.37 billion on the balance sheet - and a debt-to-capital ratio of 12%. Published tallies of analyst expectations for the quarter did not settle to a single figure, so no beat-or-miss verdict against expectations is stated here. The release schedules the earnings call for Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time; no guidance from that call is verified in this article. What to watch next is whether orders recover as the community count keeps rising, whether land impairments recur, and whether the enlarged backlog converts into closings at margins near 24.8%.