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Conor Sen

For Many Homebuyers, It’s New Construction or Nothing

With current owners staying put thanks to cheap mortgages, existing homes for sale are hard to find. That puts homebuilders in the catbird seat.

Ready when you are. — Ready when you are.
Photographer: Rebecca Noble/Bloomberg

By

February 27, 2023, 11:00 AM UTC

After the housing market’s surprise rebound in January, 30-year mortgage rates have risen to nearly 7%, cooling things back off. Mortgage applications have slumped to a 28-year low.

But that’s not what Toll Brothers Inc. wanted to talk about on its earnings call last week. The luxury homebuilder said its new orders in January were the highest for the month in any year from 2006 to 2020. And that strength has carried through into February.