M/I Homes Inc (MHO) 2025 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the M/I Homes' third-quarter earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) This call is being recorded on October 22, 2025.

女士們、先生們，早安，歡迎參加 M/I Homes 第三季財報電話會議。（操作員指示）本次通話於 2025 年 10 月 22 日錄音。

I would now like to turn the conference over to Phil Creek. Please go ahead.

現在我將把會議交給菲爾·克里克。請繼續。

Thank you for joining us today. On the call with me is Bob Schottenstein, our CEO and President; and Derek Klutch, President of our Mortgage Company. First, to address regulation for our disclosure, we encourage you to ask any questions regarding issues that you consider material during this call, because we are prohibited from discussing significant nonpublic items with you directly.

感謝您今天蒞臨。與我一起通話的是我們的執行長兼總裁鮑勃·肖滕斯坦，以及我們的抵押貸款公司總裁德里克·克拉奇。首先，為了遵守資訊揭露規定，我們鼓勵您在本次通話中提出任何您認為重要的問題，因為我們被禁止直接與您討論重要的非公開事項。

And as to forward-looking statements, I want to remind everyone that the cautionary language about forward-looking statements contained in today's press release also applies to any comments made during this call. Also, be advised that the company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements made during this call.

至於前瞻性聲明，我想提醒大家，今天新聞稿中關於前瞻性聲明的警示性措辭也適用於本次電話會議期間發表的任何評論。另外，請注意，本公司不承擔更新本次電話會議中任何前瞻性陳述的義務。

With that, I'll turn the call over to Bob.

這樣，我就把電話交給鮑伯了。

Thanks, Phil. Good morning, and I, too, want to thank you all for joining us today. Despite the continued challenging market conditions and choppy, uneven demand environment, we had a very solid third quarter. We generated $140 million of pre-tax income though down 26% from last year's record third quarter results. Our pre-tax income percentage was a very solid 12% of revenue with gross margins of 24% and resulted in a strong return on equity of 16%.

謝謝你，菲爾。早安，我也要感謝各位今天能來參加。儘管市場環境持續充滿挑戰，需求波動不定，但我們第三季的業績依然非常穩健。雖然比去年第三季創紀錄的業績下降了 26%，但我們仍實現了 1.4 億美元的稅前收入。我們的稅前利潤率達到營收的 12%，毛利率為 24%，股本報酬率高達 16%。

Consistent with our first and second quarter commentary and also consistent with what our industry peers have reported, housing demand and overall market conditions remain somewhat challenging. In our view, housing conditions are just okay, certainly not great, but still just okay, probably about a C-plus, and we continue to incentivize sales and drive traffic, primarily with mortgage rate buydowns.

與我們第一季和第二季的評論以及業內同業的報告一致，住房需求和整體市場狀況仍然具有一定的挑戰性。我們認為，住房條件只能說一般，當然不算好，但仍然只能說一般，大概能達到 C+ 級，我們將繼續透過降低抵押貸款利率來刺激銷售和吸引客流。

The cost of such buydowns are the primary reason for the decline in our gross margins. We will continue to use such rate buydowns where necessary on a subdivision-by-subdivision basis in order to drive traffic and generate sales.

此類收購的成本是導致我們毛利率下降的主要原因。我們將繼續在必要時，逐一細分地使用此類降價措施，以吸引客流並促進銷售。

In terms of our third quarter performance, we closed a third quarter record 2,296 homes, a 1% increase compared to a year ago. Our third quarter total revenue decreased 1% to $1.1 billion. We sold 1,908 homes during the quarter, down 6% compared to 2024's third quarter of 2023 homes sold, and our monthly sales pace averaged 2.7 homes per community compared to a monthly pace of 3.2 homes in 2024.

就我們第三季的業績而言，我們創下了第三季成交房屋數量紀錄，共成交 2,296 套房屋，比去年同期成長了 1%。我們第三季總營收下降1%至11億美元。本季我們售出了 1,908 套房屋，比 2023 年第三季售出的房屋數量下降了 6%，而 2024 年的月均銷售速度為每個社區 2.7 套房屋，而 2024 年的月均銷售速度為 3.2 套房屋。

Year-to-date, we have sold 6,278 homes, down 8% from a year ago. Encouragingly, we continue to see quality buyers in terms of creditworthiness with a strong average credit score of 745 and average down payments of around 16%.

今年迄今為止，我們已售出 6,278 套房屋，比去年同期下降了 8%。令人鼓舞的是，我們繼續看到信用良好的優質買家，平均信用評分高達 745 分，平均首付約為 16%。

Our Smart Series, which is, as we've stated previously, our most affordable line of homes, continues to be an important contributor to sales performance. During the third quarter, Smart Series sales comprised about 52% of total sales compared to just about 50% a year ago. We continue to make important progress in our cycle time. Our third quarter cycle time was about 10 days better than last year as well as about 10 days better than this year's first quarter. We ended the quarter with 233 communities and remain on track to grow our community count, the balance of 2025 by about 5% from 2024.

正如我們之前所說，我們的智慧系列是我們最經濟實惠的住宅系列，它仍然是銷售業績的重要貢獻者。第三季度，智慧系列產品的銷售額佔總銷售額的約 52%，而去年同期這一比例約為 50%。我們在縮短生產週期方面持續取得重要進展。我們第三季的周期時間比去年同期縮短了約 10 天，也比今年第一季縮短了約 10 天。本季末，我們擁有 233 個社區，並將繼續保持成長勢頭，到 2025 年剩餘時間，社區數量將比 2024 年增長約 5%。

As Derek Klutch will review in a few minutes, our mortgage and title operations had a very strong quarter, highlighted by capturing a record 93% of our business in the quarter.

正如 Derek Klutch 稍後將要回顧的那樣，我們的抵押貸款和產權業務在本季度表現非常強勁，其中最突出的是，該季度我們業務的佔比達到了創紀錄的 93%。

Now I will provide some additional comments on our markets. Our division income contributions in the third quarter were led by Columbus, Chicago, Dallas, Minneapolis, Orlando and Cincinnati. New contracts for the third quarter in the Northern region decreased by 17% and new contracts in our Southern region increased by 3% compared to last year's third quarter.

現在我將對我們的市場做一些補充說明。第三季度，我們各部門的營收貢獻主要來自哥倫布、芝加哥、達拉斯、明尼亞波利斯、奧蘭多和辛辛那提。與去年第三季相比，北方地區的第三季新合約減少了 17%，而南方地區的第三季新合約增加了 3%。

Our deliveries in the Southern region increased by 8%, and our deliveries in the Northern region decreased by 7% from a year ago. 59% of deliveries came out of the Southern region, 41% out of the Northern region. We feel very good about all 17 of our markets. That said, we are expecting particularly strong full year results in Columbus, Chicago, Dallas, Minneapolis, Cincinnati, Orlando and Charlotte.

與去年同期相比，我們在南部地區的配送量成長了8%，北部地區的配送量下降了7%。 59%的配送量來自南部地區，41%來自北部地區。我們對所有17個市場都感到非常滿意。也就是說，我們預期哥倫布、芝加哥、達拉斯、明尼亞波利斯、辛辛那提、奧蘭多和夏洛特全年業績將特別強勁。

We have a strong land position. Our owned and controlled lot position in the Southern region decreased by 6% compared to last year, and increased by 3% versus last year in the Northern region. 36% of our owned and controlled lots are in the North, the other 64% in the Southern region. Company-wide, we own approximately 24,400 lots, which is slightly less than a three-year supply. In addition, we control approximately 26,300 lots via option contracts resulting in a total of 50,700 owned and controlled lots equating to about a five to six-year supply.

我們擁有強大的土地優勢。我們在南部地區的自有及控制地塊數量較去年減少了6%，而在北部地區則較去年增加了3%。我們自有及控制的地塊中，36%位於北部地區，其餘64%位於南部地區。公司整體擁有約 24,400 批土地，略低於三年的供應量。此外，我們透過選擇權合約控制了約 26,300 手，從而總共擁有和控制了 50,700 手，相當於大約五到六年的供應量。

With respect to our balance sheet, we once again ended the quarter in excellent shape. During the quarter, we extended our bank credit facility by five years to 2030 and increased the borrowing capacity under that line from $650 million to $900 million.

就我們的資產負債表而言，我們本季末的狀況依然非常出色。本季度，我們將銀行信貸額度延長了五年至 2030 年，並將該額度下的借款能力從 6.5 億美元增加到 9 億美元。

We ended the third quarter with an all-time record $3.1 billion of equity, equating to a book value per share of $120, up 15% from a year ago. We had zero borrowings under the $900 million unsecured line, and over $700 million in cash, all resulting in a very strong debt-to-capital ratio of 18%, down from 20% last year, and a net debt-to-capital ratio of negative 1%.

第三季末，我們的權益達到創紀錄的 31 億美元，相當於每股帳面價值 120 美元，比去年同期成長 15%。我們在 9 億美元的無擔保信貸額度下沒有借款，並且擁有超過 7 億美元的現金，所有這些都使得我們的債務資本比率非常強勁，為 18%，低於去年的 20%，淨債務資本比率為負 1%。

As I conclude, let me just say we remain quite optimistic about our business and continue to believe that our industry will benefit from the undersupply of homes and growing household formations throughout our markets. Our backlog remains healthy, and with our strong balance sheet and strong liquidity, we have tremendous flexibility as conditions evolve. We are well positioned as we begin the fourth quarter of 2025.

最後，我想說，我們對我們的業務仍然相當樂觀，並繼續相信，我們所在的行業將受益於我們市場中房屋供應不足和家庭數量不斷增長的現狀。我們的訂單儲備依然充足，憑藉我們強勁的資產負債表和充足的流動性，我們能夠根據市場變化靈活應對。進入2025年第四季度，我們已經做好了充分準備。

With that, I'll turn it over to Phil.

接下來，我將把麥克風交給菲爾。

Thanks, Bob. Our new contracts were down 6% when compared to last year. They were flat in July, up 4% in August and down 18% in September, and our cancellation rate for the third quarter was 12%. Last September sales were strong. It was our second highest September in our history. And during the third quarter, our sales were really pretty consistent. We sold 618 in July, we sold 660 in August and 630 in September. 50% of our third quarter sales were the first-time buyers and 75% were inventory homes.

謝謝你，鮑伯。與去年相比，我們的新合約數量下降了6%。7 月持平，8 月成長 4%，9 月下降 18%，第三季的取消率為 12%。去年九月的銷售業績強勁。這是我們史上第二高的九月成績。第三季度，我們的銷售額一直相當穩定。我們7月售出618套，8月售出660套，9月售出630套。第三季銷售額中，50%來自首次購屋者，75%來自庫存房。

Our community count was 233 at the end of the third quarter, compared to $2.17 a year ago, up 7%, with the Northern region up 9% and the Southern region up 6%. The break down by region is 96 in the northern region and 137 in the Southern region.

第三季末，我們的社區數量為 233，而一年前為 2.17，成長了 7%，其中北部地區成長了 9%，南部地區成長了 6%。依地區劃分，北部地區有 96 人，南部地區有 137 人。

During the quarter, we opened 14 new communities while closing 15. We currently estimate that our average 2025 community count will be about 5% higher than last year. We delivered a record 2,296 homes in our third quarter, delivering 89% of our backlog and about 35% of our third quarter deliveries came from inventory homes that were sold and delivered in the quarter.

本季度，我們新建了 14 個社區，同時關閉了 15 個社區。我們目前預計，2025 年我們社區的平均人口數量將比去年增加約 5%。我們在第三季交付了創紀錄的 2296 套住房，交付了 89% 的積壓訂單，第三季交付的住房中約有 35% 來自當季售出和交付的庫存房屋。

At September 30, we had 5,000 homes in the field versus 5,100 homes in the field a year ago. Revenue decreased 1% in the third quarter, and our average closing price in the third quarter was $477,000, a 2% decrease when compared to last year's third quarter average closing price of $489,000.

截至 9 月 30 日，我們現場有 5,000 戶家庭，而一年前現場有 5,100 戶家庭。第三季營收下降了 1%，第三季平均收盤價為 477,000 美元，與去年第三季平均收盤價 489,000 美元相比下降了 2%。

Our third quarter gross margin was 23.9%, down 320 basis points year-over-year with 60 basis points of the decline due to $7.6 million of inventory charges. The breakdown of the inventory charges is $6 million of impairments and $1.6 million of lot deposit due diligence costs that were written off.

第三季毛利率為 23.9%，年減 320 個基點，其中 60 個基點的下降是由於 760 萬美元的庫存費用造成的。庫存費用的細分包括 600 萬美元的減損損失和 160 萬美元的已註銷的批次定金盡職調查費用。

And our construction costs were down about 1% in the third quarter, compared to the second quarter. Our third quarter SG&A expenses were $11.9 million of revenue compared to $11.2 million a year ago. Our third quarter expenses increased 6% versus a year ago. Our increased costs were primarily due to higher community count and higher selling expenses. Interest income, net of interest expense for the quarter was $4.5 million. Our interest incurred was $8.7 million.

與第二季相比，我們第三季的建築成本下降了約 1%。第三季銷售、一般及行政費用為 1,190 萬美元收入，去年同期為 1,120 萬美元。第三季支出比去年同期成長了6%。我們成本增加主要是由於社區人口數量增加和銷售費用增加。本季利息收入（扣除利息支出後）為 450 萬美元。我們產生的利息為 870 萬美元。

We had solid returns for the third quarter. Given the challenges facing our industry, our pre-tax income was 12% and our return on equity was 16%. During the quarter, we generated $157 million of EBITDA compared to $198 million in last year's third quarter, and our effective tax rate was 23.8% in the third quarter, compared to $22.9 million in last year's third quarter.

第三季我們取得了穩健的收益。鑑於我們所在產業面臨的挑戰，我們的稅前利潤率為 12%，股本回報率為 16%。本季度，我們的 EBITDA 為 1.57 億美元，而去年同期為 1.98 億美元；第三季的實際稅率為 23.8%，而去年同期為 2,290 萬美元。

Our earnings per share -- earnings per diluted share for the quarter decreased to $3.92 per share from $5.10 last year, and our book value per share is now $120, a $16 per share increase from a year ago.

本季每股收益（稀釋後每股收益）從去年的 5.10 美元降至 3.92 美元，每股帳面價值為 120 美元，比一年前增加了 16 美元。

Now Derek Klutch will address our mortgage company results.

現在，Derek Klutch 將介紹我們抵押貸款公司的業績。

Thanks, Phil. Our mortgage and title operations achieved pre-tax income of $16.6 million, an increase of 28% from $12.9 million in 2024's third quarter. Revenue increased 16% from last year to a third quarter record $34.6 million due to higher margins on loans sold, a higher average loan amount and an increase in loans originated.

謝謝你，菲爾。我們的抵押貸款和產權業務實現了稅前收入 1,660 萬美元，比 2024 年第三季的 1,290 萬美元成長了 28%。由於貸款銷售利潤率提高、平均貸款金額增加以及貸款發放量增加，第三季營收較去年同期成長 16%，達到創紀錄的 3,460 萬美元。

The average loan to value on our first mortgages for the third quarter was 84%, compared to 82% in 2024's third quarter. We continue to see an increase in the use of government financing. As 55% of the loans closed in the quarter were conventional and 45% FHA or VA, compared to 66% and 34%, respectively, for 2024's third quarter.

第三季我們首筆抵押貸款的平均貸款成數為 84%，而 2024 年第三季為 82%。我們看到政府融資的使用量持續增加。本季完成的貸款中，55%為傳統貸款，45%為FHA或VA貸款，而2024年第三季這兩項數據分別為66%和34%。

Our average mortgage amount increased to $406,000 compared to $403,000 last year. Loans originated increased to 1,848,and which was up 9% from last year, while the volume of loans sold increased by 19%. Finally, as Bob mentioned, our mortgage operation captured 93% of our business in the third quarter, this was up from 89% last year.

我們的平均抵押貸款金額從去年的 403,000 美元增加到 406,000 美元。發放貸款數量增加到 1,848 筆，比去年增加了 9%，而貸款銷售量增加了 19%。最後，正如鮑伯所提到的，我們的抵押貸款業務在第三季占我們業務的 93%，高於去年的 89%。

Now I'll turn the call back over to Phil.

現在我把電話轉回給菲爾。

Thanks, Derek. Our financial position continues to be very strong, highlighted by Moody's recent upgrade of our credit rating and the extension of our unsecured credit facility to September 2030, which increased our borrowing capacity from $650 million to $900 million, and we ended the third quarter with no borrowings under this facility and had a cash balance of $734 million.

謝謝你，德里克。我們的財務狀況仍然非常強勁，穆迪最近上調了我們的信用評級，並將我們的無擔保信貸額度延長至 2030 年 9 月，這使我們的借款能力從 6.5 億美元增加到 9 億美元，第三季度末，我們在該信貸額度下沒有借款，現金餘額為 7.34 億美元。

We continue to have one of the lowest debt levels of the public homebuilders and are well positioned with our maturities. Our bank line matures in 2030, and our public debt matures in 2028 and 2030. Our unsold land investment at 9/30 is $1.8 billion compared to $1.6 billion a year ago. And at September 30, we had $931 million of raw land and land under development and $859 million of finished unsold lots.

我們仍然是上市住宅建築商中債務水平最低的公司之一，我們的債務到期情況良好。我們的銀行信貸將於 2030 年到期，我們的公共債務將於 2028 年和 2030 年到期。截至 9 月 30 日，我們未售出的土地投資為 18 億美元，而一年前為 16 億美元。截至 9 月 30 日，我們有價值 9.31 億美元的未開發土地和在建土地，以及價值 8.59 億美元的已完工但未售出的土地。

During the third quarter, we spent $115 million on land purchases and $181 million on land development for a total of $297 million. And at the end of the quarter, we had 776 completed inventory homes and 3001 total inventory homes.

第三季度，我們花了 1.15 億美元用於土地購買，1.81 億美元用於土地開發，總計 2.97 億美元。到季度末，我們有 776 套已竣工的庫存房屋，庫存房屋總數為 3001 套。

And of the total inventory, 1,245 were in the Northern region and 1,756 are in the Southern region. At September 30, '24, we had 555 completed inventory homes and 2,375 total inventory homes. We spent $50 million in the third quarter, repurchasing our stock and have $100 million remaining under our current Board authorization. And since the start of 2022, we have repurchased 15% of our outstanding shares. This completes our presentation.

在所有庫存中，1,245件位於北部地區，1,756件位於南部地區。截至 2024 年 9 月 30 日，我們有 555 套已竣工的庫存房屋，庫存房屋總數為 2,375 套。我們在第三季花了 5000 萬美元回購了我們的股票，根據董事會目前的授權，我們還有 1 億美元剩餘。自 2022 年初以來，我們已回購了 15% 的流通股。我們的演講到此結束。

We'll now open the call for any questions or comments.

現在我們開放提問或評論環節。

(Operator instructions) Ken Zener, Seaport.

（操作說明）肯·澤納，海港。

If we could talk about orders a little bit. You had, as we measure kind of normal seasonality, which is pretty impressive in the so-so market you reflect. Can you talk to that dynamic of you wanting to achieve, right, what we see as seasonality? I mean you might look at it differently. But -- and the use of incentives?

我們能否稍微談談訂單方面的問題？根據我們的衡量標準，你們的季節性表現相當正常，這在你們反映的這種平庸的市場中是相當令人印象深刻的。您能否談談您想要實現我們所理解的季節性目標的這種動態？我的意思是，你或許會有不同的看法。但是──激勵措施的使用呢？

And if you could quantify the incentives level in general, and the mix between price and mortgage buydown and closing costs, please?

如果您能量化一下整體激勵水平，以及價格、抵押貸款補貼和交易費用之間的比例，那就太好了？

Yes. Great question. Clearly, a somewhat challenging market, unpredictable, too. The -- from week to week, a fair amount of intra-market volatility within our divisions. One-month, certain of our divisions might have stronger sales and then unexpectedly things slow down, then they pick back up. As I said, I think things are just okay.

是的。問得好。顯然，這是一個頗具挑戰性且難以預測的市場。從每週到每週，我們各部門內部的市場波動都相當大。某個部門的銷售額可能在一個月內大幅成長，然後又出乎意料地放緩，之後又會回升。正如我所說，我覺得一切都還好。

That said, it's critically important for us to drive traffic and do everything we can to incent sales in this market. And I don't think we're alone in this, but we have concluded that there is no better way to do that than through the selective use of mortgage rate buydowns.

也就是說，在這個市場中，對我們來說，吸引流量並盡一切努力刺激銷售至關重要。我認為我們並非孤例，但我們一致認為，沒有比選擇性地降低抵押貸款利率更好的方法了。

We have not offered any specifics on the exact amount that we're spending, it tends to change over time based upon what's happening in the market. You can go on our website, and you can see that both with respect to conventional as well as FHA, we're offering rates in the very high 4s. And that is -- we have found that to be a pretty good sweet spot to do what we are currently doing.

我們沒有透露具體的支出金額，支出金額會根據市場狀況而改變。您可以造訪我們的網站，可以看到，無論是傳統貸款還是 FHA 貸款，我們提供的利率都在 4 倍以上。我們發現，這對我們目前正在做的事情來說，是一個非常合適的平衡點。

Absent the inventory charges that Phil mentioned that accounted for about 60 to 70 basis points of our gross margin decline, our margins are down about 250 basis points year-over-year. And I would just simply say that the majority of that is due to mortgage rate buydowns.

除去菲爾提到的導致毛利率下降約 60 至 70 個基點的庫存費用，我們的毛利率比去年同期下降了約 250 個基點。我只想簡單地說，這大部分是由於抵押貸款利率下調所造成的。

There is some subdivision-by-subdivision incentivization that might be going on here and there. But the significant majority of it is rate buydowns. And then, frankly, some of the other decline is just increased cost on the land side. We've had a lot of success, I don't think we're alone on this, which is also encouraging. You don't want to be the only one doing something because it may not be sustainable, but we've had a lot of success on our sticks and bricks, our raw materials and costs with our subcontractors and suppliers relatively flat to down, which has been very encouraging, notwithstanding all the chatter about impact of tariffs.

這裡那裡可能存在一些針對不同細分區域的激勵措施。但其中絕大部分是利率下調。坦白說，其他一些下滑僅僅是由於土地成本增加造成的。我們已經取得了巨大的成功，我認為我們並非孤軍奮戰，這也很令人鼓舞。你不想成為唯一做某件事的人，因為這可能不可持續，但我們在建築、原材料和成本方面取得了很大的成功，我們的分包商和供應商的成本相對持平或下降，這非常令人鼓舞，儘管關於關稅影響的議論紛紛。

We have seen no impact of tariffs to date. I think the jury is out on how things shake out as we move into next year, but thus far, we haven't seen any of that flow through to our results, but we're going to continue, as I said, Ken, to use rate buydowns as the primary driver for both traffic and sales, as long as it keeps working.

目前為止，我們尚未看到關稅產生任何影響。我認為明年情況如何還很難說，但到目前為止，我們還沒有看到任何影響到我們的業績，但正如我所說，肯，只要降價策略繼續有效，我們將繼續把降價作為提升客流量和銷售額的主要驅動力。

And with -- if rates were to drop, there's been a little bit of movement recently. It didn't seem to have that much of an impact on demand. That's a bit of a fit-and-start kind of a situation, but if rates begin to drop the cost of such buydowns, hopefully, will drop as well.

而且──如果利率下降的話，最近也出現了一些動向。似乎對需求並沒有產生太大影響。這有點像是走一步看一步的局面，但如果利率開始下降，希望這種債務買進的成本也會隨之下降。

And then more importantly, if we do see a drop in rates, that could help unlock the existing home market, which we're getting these results really without much help from the sale of existing homes. That could be a big tailwind for housing if and when that begins to unlock because even though inventory levels of existing homes in our markets are not anywhere near the all-time highs, they are up considerably year-over-year and over the past two years and past three years.

更重要的是，如果我們看到利率下降，這可能有助於釋放現有房屋市場的潛力，而我們目前取得的這些成果實際上並沒有得到現有房屋銷售的太多幫助。如果這種情況開始好轉，這可能會對房地產市場產生巨大的推動作用，因為儘管我們市場上現有房屋的庫存水平遠未達到歷史最高水平，但與去年同期以及過去兩年和過去三年相比，庫存水平都大幅上升。

It's a long answer to your question. I hope it tells you most of what you asked.

你的問題需要詳細解答。我希望它能解答你的大部分疑問。

Yes, and appreciate it. My second question, because you report the South as a segment versus the North. The South, obviously has Texas, Florida, which can be different -- which are different markets. Gross margins were about the same last quarter in those regions. EBIT a little different.

是的，非常感謝。我的第二個問題是，因為你把南方當作一個整體來報道，而把北方當作一個整體來報道。南方地區，顯然有德克薩斯州和佛羅裡達州，情況可能有所不同——它們是不同的市場。這些地區的毛利率與上季基本持平。息稅前利潤略有不同。

But could you comment on kind of prior to the Q coming out, the gross margin trends we're seeing in those two segments? And if you -- any comments you could to illuminate the aggregation of Texas and Florida would be appreciated.

在季度財報發布之前，您能否就這兩個業務板塊的毛利率趨勢發表一下看法？如果您能就德克薩斯州和佛羅裡達州的合併問題提供任何評論，我們將不勝感激。

I'll say a couple of things about it. For us, Orlando on the East -- relative East Coast is stronger in Tampa and Sarasota, Fort Myers, where we have a relatively new operation. So it's not really that meaningful in terms of results, but demand and margins for us are clearly holding up better in Orlando than they are in Tampa and Sarasota.

關於這件事，我想說幾點。對我們來說，東海岸的奧蘭多——相對而言，東海岸的坦帕、薩拉索塔和邁爾斯堡實力更強，我們在那裡有一個相對較新的業務。所以從結果來看，這其實意義不大，但顯然，我們在奧蘭多的需求和利潤率比在坦帕和薩拉索塔好得多。

I think Austin and Texas, that market was red hot a couple of years ago, and over the last 12 to 18 months, it's cooled considerably. It's probably struggling the most in Texas. We have seen margins drop also in Houston and Dallas, but comparatively, I think they're still holding up quite well. We're expecting, as I said, a strong year in Dallas.

我認為奧斯汀和德州的房地產市場幾年前非常火爆，但在過去 12 到 18 個月裡，已經大幅降溫了。它在德克薩斯州可能受到的衝擊最大。我們看到休士頓和達拉斯的利潤率也有所下降，但相對而言，我認為它們的利潤率仍然相當不錯。正如我所說，我們預計達拉斯今年將迎來強勁的一年。

Charlotte and Raleigh have both been pretty good. And as I also mentioned, we're expecting a strong year in Charlotte. So it's not to be snarky, but it's a bit of tale of 17 cities. They're all a little bit different. And we've long said that this business is a subdivision business. We got about 233 of them when we try to manage them that way, but within the cities, what I've just described is probably a pretty good snapshot from 10,000 feet.

夏洛特和羅利都相當不錯。正如我之前提到的，我們預計夏洛特今年將迎來強勁的一年。這麼說並非諷刺，但這有點像《十七座城市》的故事。它們都略有不同。我們一直都說，這個產業本質上就是一個土地細分產業。當我們嘗試用這種方式管理它們時，我們大約得到了 233 個，但在城市裡，我剛才描述的情況可能只是從 10,000 英尺高空上看的一個相當不錯的快照。

If you look also, this is Phil, if you look at community count last year, our average community count was up about 7%, and this year, our estimate is we'll be up about 5% on average. We feel good about that. If you look inside those numbers, as I said, both regions do have community count growth.

如果你再看一下，我是菲爾，如果你看去年的社區統計數據，我們的平均社區人口數量增長了約 7%，而今年，我們估計平均增長幅度將達到 5% 左右。我們對此感到很滿意。如我所說，如果你仔細分析這些數字，你會發現這兩個地區的社區數量都有增加。

Our Florida community count has actually been down a little bit this year. Our Texas community count has been up a little bit. And as Bob said, in general, our Midwest and Carolina business as far as pricing and margins and so forth, it held up a little better than Texas and Florida. But overall, we feel really good about where we are.

今年我們在佛羅裡達州的社區感染人數實際上略有下降。我們德州社區的感染人數略有上升。正如鮑勃所說，總的來說，就定價和利潤率等方面而言，我們在中西部和卡羅來納州的業務比在德克薩斯州和佛羅裡達州的業務表現要好一些。但總的來說，我們對目前的狀況感到非常滿意。

Alan Ratner, Zelman & Associates.

艾倫·拉特納，澤爾曼及合夥人公司。

So Bob, a lot of chatter over the last few weeks about some tweets from our administration and the FHFA about the homebuilders business. And I'm just curious, have you had any discussions with the administration or have any thoughts on, I guess, what some of the headlines are out there?

鮑勃，過去幾週有很多關於我們政府和聯邦住房金融局 (FHFA) 關於房屋建築商業務的一些推文的討論。我只是好奇，您是否與政府部門進行過任何討論，或者對目前的一些新聞頭條有什麼看法？

We have not had any discussions at this point and nothing is currently planned for us. Obviously, we're aware of it. Look, I think the -- I don't know if I can comment much more, I read what you read. I think that the good news from my view, and this is both at the local and state level as well as federal, there's a lot of talk right now about what can be done to help unlock, if you will, housing, improve affordability. We're seeing it in a lot of different levels.

目前我們之間還沒有任何討論，也沒有任何針對我們的計劃。我們當然知道這一點。你看，我覺得──我不知道我還能不能多說幾句，我看了你讀到的內容。我認為，就我個人而言，好消息是，無論是在地方、州或聯邦層面，現在都在熱議如何才能幫助解決住房問題，提高住房可負擔性。我們在很多不同層面上都看到了這種情況。

I was in an event last night, where that was the primary topic of discussion as it relates to markets in the Midwest, albeit an event in another week or two as it relates to just Ohio, where that is a primary topic. I think people understand how important housing is as a driver of the overall economy, and that housing, while it's certainly by no means dead, it's underperforming, and we need to be building more homes.

昨晚我參加了一個活動，主要討論的是中西部地區的市場狀況；不過，一兩週後我還會參加一個活動，專門討論俄亥俄州的情況，這也是俄亥俄州的主要議題。我認為人們明白住房對整體經濟的重要性，也明白住房雖然遠未消亡，但其表現卻不盡人意，我們需要建造更多的房屋。

And we make -- need to make sure we do the smartest and best things to help create that environment. I think we'll get there eventually, but if there could be some policies here or there at the local level, we certainly would welcome those.

我們需要確保我們做最明智、最好的事情來幫助創造這樣的環境。我認為我們最終會實現目標，但如果地方層級能推出一些相關政策，我們當然會表示歡迎。

We have long said, and I think this view was widely shared, but we have long said that the greatest impediment in my -- in our judgment to affordability and to improve volume levels is local zoning regulations. And some markets are more favorable than others, but that to me is, remains the biggest impediment the -- we're all sick of the nimby term, but the nimbyism and the anti-growth, again, some markets, the situation is more acute than in others.

我們一直認為，而且我認為這種觀點也得到了廣泛的認同，那就是，在我們看來，影響房價可承受性和提高銷售量的最大障礙是地方分區法規。有些市場比其他市場更有利，但對我來說，這仍然是最大的障礙——我們都厭倦了「鄰避主義」這個詞，但鄰避主義和反成長，再說一遍，有些市場的情況比其他市場更嚴重。

I think there's a reason why Texas has led the nation in housing production. I don't know if it's 15%, 18% of total new home production, but it's a big number. And I think in general, while it's not easy there either, there's just been a much more favorable zoning climate that has contributed to more development, and frankly, more affordability. So that's what I thought.

我認為德州在住房生產方面領先全國是有原因的。我不知道是佔新建住宅總產量的 15% 還是 18%，但這確實是一個很大的數字。而且我認為，總的來說，雖然那裡也不容易，但那裡的分區環境要有利得多，這促進了更多的開發，坦白說，也提高了住房的可負擔性。我也是這麼想的。

And yes, that seems to be the general sentiment so far is that at least builders are happy to see it being talked about. So hopefully, there could be some real change implemented from whatever discussion.

是的，目前看來，至少建商們很高興看到這個問題被提上日程。所以，希望無論進行何種討論，都能帶來一些真正的改變。

Right. It's always bad when no one wants to talk to you. Be careful what you wish for. And as long as there's conversation, you've got a chance.

正確的。沒人願意跟你說話，總是很糟糕的。小心你的願望。只要有對話，就還有機會。

Exactly. All right. A couple of quick ones on just the margin, both gross and SG&A. So on gross margin, it looks like this quarter, obviously, things are still under a little bit of pressure, but it looks like things are stabilized a bit quarter-over-quarter.

確切地。好的。簡單分析一下利潤率，包括毛利和銷售、管理及行政費用。因此，就毛利率而言，顯然本季情況仍然面臨一些壓力，但與上一季相比，情況似乎有所穩定。

I know you don't guide, but maybe just if you could talk to the puts and takes going forward in terms of land costs flowing through. It sounds like construction costs are stable. Pricing and incentives, I mean, should we -- are we kind of getting a little bit closer to the bottom here on margin, do you think? Or is there more room for margins to drop over the next handful of quarters?

我知道你不是做指導的，但或許你可以談談未來土地成本變動的買賣情況。聽起來建築成本比較穩定。定價和激勵措施，我的意思是，我們——我們是不是在利潤率方面已經接近底線了？你覺得呢？或者說，未來幾季利潤率還有進一步下降的空間嗎？

Well, I think we're a lot closer to the bottom than we were last quarter. How close are we? That remains to be seen. Look, going into this year, even though we didn't share this internally, we believe that our margins would be under pressure somewhere. This was internal budgeting between 200 and 300 basis points because we knew we were going to have to spend a lot of money on mortgage rate buydowns as we've talked about this call, second quarter, first quarter.

嗯，我認為我們現在比上個季度更接近谷底了。我們離目標還有多遠？這一點還有待觀察。你看，進入今年，雖然我們沒有在內部透露這一點，但我們認為我們的利潤率在某些方面會面臨壓力。這是內部預算，介於 200 到 300 個基點之間，因為我們知道，正如我們在這次電話會議中討論的那樣，我們將不得不花很多錢來降低抵押貸款利率，第二季度，第一季度。

Absent the impairments, they're about 250 basis points down year-over-year. Could they drop a little more? Perhaps. I think we're getting close to some point. And the other thing that's hard to gauge and no one knows the answer to this is even though we may continue to be spending money on rate buy-downs, if the cost drops by 50 to 100 basis points, that's a big plus on the margin side.

不計減損損失，年減約 250 個基點。他們還能再降一點嗎？也許。我覺得我們快要達到某個臨界點了。還有一件事很難衡量，也沒有人知道答案，那就是即使我們可能繼續花錢來降低利率，但如果成本下降 50 到 100 個基點，這對利潤率來說也是一個巨大的優勢。

And Phil, I don't know if you have anything to add on that.

菲爾，我不知道你還有什麼要補充的。

Yes. The pressures we have really, as we said in the third quarter, we saw 75% specs. The second quarter was like 73%. So it is up a little bit. And in general, our specs have a lower average sale price than are to be built, and they also have a lower margin. So the amount of specs continues to be a pressure.

是的。正如我們在第三季所說，我們面臨的壓力確實很大，我們看到了 75% 的缺貨。第二季大約是73%。所以價格略有上漲。總的來說，我們的原型平均售價低於實際生產的價格，利潤率也較低。因此，規格要求的數量仍然是一個壓力。

Also, Bob mentioned higher land cost. We do have higher land costs coming through than we did a year ago. The good news is the last couple of quarters, land development costs which actually were increasing more than the raw land, land development costs seem to have stabilized.

此外，鮑伯也提到了更高的土地成本。我們目前的土地成本確實比一年前更高。好消息是，在過去的幾個季度裡，土地開發成本（實際上成長速度超過了土地本身的價格）似乎已經趨於穩定。

And obviously, we're being very careful as far as buying new land parcels since we do feel very strong about our land position and also the choppy market conditions. So we're doing all we can. You're always market pricing. We always need a certain amount of volume to come through, but overall, we think our margins are holding up pretty well. But again, there do continue to be pressures.

顯然，由於我們對自身的土地儲備非常有信心，而且市場行情動盪，我們在購買新的土地時非常謹慎。所以我們正在盡一切努力。你始終採用市場定價。我們始終需要一定的銷售量才能達到目標，但總體而言，我們認為我們的利潤率保持得相當不錯。但是，壓力依然存在。

And we have certain internal targets. We want to always have hopefully double-digit pre-tax income percentage. We were 12% for the quarter. Given the market, we feel really good about that. given our size, we feel particularly good about our return on equity. It's lower than it was a year ago, but it's still a very, I think, respectable 16%. We've got minimum targets on that, that we're hitting and we're going to keep aiming to hit those targets.

我們還有一些內部目標。我們希望稅前利潤率始終維持在兩位數以上。本季我們的收益率為12%。鑑於市場狀況，我們對此感到非常滿意。考慮到我們的規模，我們對淨資產收益率尤其感到滿意。雖然比一年前低，但我認為 16% 仍然是一個非常可觀的數字。我們設定了最低目標，我們正在達成這些目標，我們將繼續努力達成這些目標。

Buck Horne, Raymond James.

巴克·霍恩，雷蒙德·詹姆斯。

I wanted to go back to the regional split on the order growth trends between the North and the South. Just if I heard correctly, I believe you still had higher year-over-year community count in the North region, but orders dropped off 17%. I know there was a tough comp against last year, but just it sounded like markets like Columbus and Cincinnati and Chicago were doing better, but just wondering if you can add any color kind of that divergence in order trends?

我想回顧一下南北地區訂單成長趨勢的差異。如果我沒聽錯的話，北部地區的社區數量比去年同期仍然較高，但訂單量下降了 17%。我知道今年的同比數據很低，但聽起來像哥倫布、辛辛那提和芝加哥這樣的市場表現更好，我想知道您能否就訂單趨勢的這種差異提供一些見解？

I -- we're very -- I think, we're very pleased with how well our Midwest markets have held up. They may be off from where they were a year ago, but I think there -- we've a very strong operation in Columbus, Cincinnati, frankly, Indianapolis. I didn't call out Indianapolis, but we have a much improved operation in Indianapolis over where we were several years ago, very bullish about that market as well.

我——我們非常——我認為，我們對中西部市場的表現非常滿意。他們可能不如一年前那麼出色，但我認為——坦白說，我們在哥倫布、辛辛那提，還有印第安納波利斯都有非常強大的業務。我沒有點名印第安納波利斯，但我們在印第安納波利斯的營運狀況比幾年前有了很大的改善，我對這個市場也非常看好。

Chicago is having a very strong year for us as is Minneapolis. And there's -- sometimes, there's a little noise in these numbers given when new communities open up and you got to sort of look over a longer period of time, but we remain bullish about the Midwest, bullish about the Carolinas. I don't think Florida has a few struggles here and there, particularly on -- at least for us on the West Coast, and Texas is a little bit of a transition, but there's still tremendous economic vitality, generally speaking, throughout nearly every one of our markets.

今年芝加哥和明尼阿波利斯對我們來說都是非常強勁的一年。有時候，當新的社區開放時，這些數字會有一些波動，你需要觀察更長的時間，但我們仍然看好中西部地區，看好卡羅來納州。我認為佛羅裡達州在某些方面遇到了一些困難，尤其是在——至少對我們西海岸的人來說是這樣，而德克薩斯州則處於轉型期，但總的來說，我們幾乎每個市場都充滿了巨大的經濟活力。

We're a relative newcomer in Nashville. We've got high hopes for Nashville going forward, lots of job growth there, lots of projected household formations. Houston and Dallas continue to be very strong markets in terms of just total macroeconomic conditions, maybe off a little bit. I get that Austin slowly, slowly coming back. Generally, in migration, still in Austin, terrific place. Glad we're there. If we weren't, we'd open up there.

我們在納許維爾算是新來者。我們對納許維爾的未來充滿希望，那裡有很多就業機會，預計也會有很多家庭成立。就整體宏觀經濟狀況而言，休士頓和達拉斯仍然是非常強勁的市場，可能略有波動。我感覺奧斯汀正在慢慢地、慢慢地恢復元氣。總的來說，就移民而言，我仍然留在奧斯汀，那是個很棒的地方。很高興我們到了那裡。如果我們沒有，我們就會在那裡開業。

So we feel very good about all of our markets. And I think the diversity, you never hit, you know this, you never hit on all cylinders. If you do, it's lucky. There's always something somewhere. And I think it's important to have the geographic diversities, the geographic diversity that we have. And I think it's particularly helpful to us right now where there's a little bit of a slowdown in Florida and parts of Texas as well, but the Midwest is -- as a Midwestern, I'm glad to see the Midwest standing pretty tall these days.

所以我們對所有市場都感到非常滿意。而且我認為多樣性，你永遠無法達到，你知道的，你永遠無法火力全開。如果你這麼做了，那真是幸運。總有東西在某個地方。我認為擁有我們所擁有的這種地理多樣性非常重要。我認為這對我們目前的情況尤其有幫助，因為佛羅裡達州和德克薩斯州的部分地區經濟增速有所放緩，但中西部地區——作為一個中西部人，我很高興看到中西部地區最近發展勢頭良好。

Buck, this is Phil. When you actually look at the numbers, as I said, our third quarter sales overall, really were pretty consistent, 618 in July, 660 in August and 630 in September. The real -- last September, we sold like 775 homes last September, and the Midwest was really strong last September for different reasons. We do run periodic sales events last September was a start of a sales event.

巴克，我是菲爾。正如我所說，當你真正查看這些數字時，我們第三季度的整體銷售額確實相當穩定，7 月份為 618，8 月份為 660，9 月份為 630。去年九月，我們賣出了大約 775 套房屋，而中西部地區的房屋銷售在去年九月表現非常強勁，原因各不相同。我們定期舉辦促銷活動，去年九月就是促銷活動的開始。

So that is really the reason that you're seeing the down sales quarter-to-quarter. The Midwest sales, as Bob said, really were fairly decent, pretty consistent through the quarter. it's really just last September was a little unusual.

所以，這就是你看到銷售額環比下降的真正原因。正如鮑伯所說，中西部地區的銷售額確實相當不錯，整個季度都保持穩定。只是去年九月的情況有點反常。

Got you. That's very helpful color. I appreciate that. Yes, thanks for all the details there, really good. Going to G&A and kind of selling costs, I think one of your competitors noted that just in this competitive environment, there's a lot of spec homes and a lot of builders are trying to clear before year-end.

抓到你了。那是一個非常有用的顏色。我很感激。是的，非常感謝您提供的所有細節，真的很有幫助。說到一般管理費用和銷售成本，我認為你們的一位競爭對手指出，在這種競爭激烈的環境下，有很多投機性住房，很多建築商都想在年底前清倉。

And there -- one of the tools to utilize is more co-brokers and utilizing more realtors to try to get those inventory homes cleared before year-end, are you guys pursuing a similar strategy? Should we think about that being an added cost into the fourth quarter in terms of just selling expenses?

而且，其中一項可以利用的工具是更多的合作經紀人和更多的房地產經紀人，以便在年底前清理那些庫存房屋，你們也在採取類似的策略嗎？我們是否應該將此視為第四季銷售費用中的一項額外成本？

Phil is going to give you the best in those detailed answer, but I just want to say a couple of things first. We've got over 200 more completed specs today than we did a year ago at this time. And it's probably a little more than we'd ideally like to have. We're very, very careful from a management standpoint on paying close attention to that broker co-op percentage.

Phil 會給你最詳細的解答，但我首先想說幾句。今天我們完成的規格書比一年前同期多了 200 多份。而且這可能比我們理想中的數量還要多一些。從管理角度來看，我們非常非常謹慎地密切關注經紀人合作比例。

I wish, Frank, we welcome brokers, we need brokers. Company-wide, we're in the low to -- we're in the mid-70s, I think, 75%, 76%, maybe 77%. I don't know the exact percentage, Phil does. I wish it were lower. We have a lot of programs that we think are effective in bringing that down without alienating an important part of our selling efforts, which is the third-party brokers.

弗蘭克，我希望如此。我們歡迎經紀人，我們需要經紀人。公司整體而言，我們處於較低水平——我想大概在 70% 到 75% 之間，75%、76%，也許 77%。我不知道確切的百分比，菲爾知道。我希望它能更低一些。我們有許多我們認為能夠有效降低這種現象的方案，而且不會疏遠我們銷售工作中一個重要的組成部分，那就是第三方經紀人。

Phil, I don't know if you want to comment any further?

菲爾，我不知道你是否還有什麼要補充的？

Yes. When you look at the SG&A, as I said, the actual expenses were up 6% versus a year ago. We have 7% more communities, and you do have cost for every store, maintaining those stores. We have 3% more people. Again, we have 7% more stores, those type of things. We also did have a slightly higher sales commission rate internal and external, again, trying to drive traffic and sales. So that's how we kind of get to that 6% increase, Buck.

是的。如我所說，從銷售、一般及行政費用來看，實際支出比一年前增加了 6%。我們擁有比之前多 7% 的社區，每家商店都需要成本，維護這些商店也需要成本。我們的人多了3%。再說一遍，我們的門市數量增加了 7%，諸如此類的事情。我們內部和外部的銷售佣金率也略有提高，同樣是為了吸引流量和促進銷售。所以，這就是我們得到6%成長結果的過程，巴克。

One thing we have not done, there might be one or two minor exceptions, we're not out there incentivizing traffic or sales by offering more money to the third-party brokers. Some of our peers have. We're not doing that. We don't feel we need to do it. And we also think that it's like a lot of things in life, once you start, it's hard to stop.

有一件事我們沒有做過，雖然可能有一兩個小的例外，那就是我們不會透過向第三方經紀人提供更多資金來激勵流量或銷售。我們的一些同行已經這樣做了。我們不會那樣做。我們覺得沒必要這麼做。我們也認為，就像生活中很多事情一樣，一旦開始，就很難停下來。

Right. Yes. All right. That's really helpful. I appreciate that added color. My last, if I can sneak it in, is just given the strength of the balance sheet here and the cash position and the increased financial flexibility you've got with the credit facility, is there anything that's necessarily holding you back from accelerating repurchases into year-end, working capital needs or otherwise or just want to continue to be very programmatic and consistent on that.

正確的。是的。好的。這真的很有幫助。我喜歡這種增添色彩的效果。最後，如果可以的話，我想問的是，鑑於貴公司目前的資產負債表實力雄厚，現金狀況良好，而且信貸額度也提高了財務靈活性，是否有任何因素會阻礙貴公司在年底前加快回購步伐？是營運資金需求或其他原因，還是貴公司希望繼續保持這種有計劃性和一致性的做法？

Yes. I mean I'll say one thing, and then I think Phil is going to add to this, which is -- which he should. Job one is to grow the company. Job -- and to do so with a very strong balance sheet. We thought we had a strong balance sheet back in 2004, '05 and '06 only to learn that we didn't.

是的。我的意思是，我會說一件事，然後我認為菲爾會補充一些內容，而他也應該補充。首要任務是發展公司。找到工作－並且要保持非常穩健的資產負債表。2004年、2005年和2006年，我們以為我們的資產負債表很穩健，結果卻發現並非如此。

Our debt to cap was in the high 40s, low 50s, so were many of our peers. We're not going back to that movie. And we're going to maintain a very, very strong balance sheet with comparatively low debt levels as we are right now. That is our goal going forward. We also want to grow the company. But when we have this excess cash and for all these other reasons, we think we can also, at the same time, without compromising growth. selectively buy back shares.

我們的債務上限在 40% 到 50% 之間，我們的許多同行也是如此。我們不會再去看那部電影了。我們將繼續維持非常非常強勁的資產負債表，債務水準也將像現在這樣相對較低。這就是我們接下來的目標。我們也希望公司能發展壯大。但是，鑑於我們擁有這些多餘的現金以及其他種種原因，我們認為我們也可以在不影響成長的前提下，同時有選擇地回購股票。

Phil, I don't know if you want to add anything.

菲爾，我不知道你是否還有什麼要補充的。

Exactly. We continue every quarter with our Board to talk about stock repurchases and so forth. We have consistently, for the last few quarters, repurchased $50 million a quarter. As far as the bank line, the bank line was going to mature in December '26. We really do not want to get within a one-year window of that. We just offer safety and flexibility, plus it now is a five-year term. We thought it made sense to go from $650 million to $900 million.

確切地。我們每季都會與董事會討論股票回購等事宜。在過去的幾個季度裡，我們一直保持著每季回購 5,000 萬美元的水準。至於銀行信貸額度，該信貸額度將於 2026 年 12 月到期。我們真的不想讓這種情況發生在一年之內。我們提供的是安全性和靈活性，而且現在是五年期限。我們認為從 6.5 億美元增加到 9 億美元是合理的。

We're definitely kind of low leverage, conservative type people. We do like to keep that leverage low, especially during these times. I do have 3,000 specs compared to 2,300-or-so a year ago we think that makes a lot of sense in today's market, especially to take advantage of these rate buy-downs, which are a lot more effective in shorter periods of time. So we're just going to continue to adapt as best we can to market conditions, but keeping a strong balance sheet and strong liquidity is definitely job one.

我們絕對是那種低調保守的人。我們確實喜歡保持較低的槓桿率，尤其是在當前時期。與一年前的 2300 左右相比，我現在有 3000 個規格，我們認為這在當今市場很有意義，尤其是在利用這些利率下調方面，因為利率下調在較短的時間內要有效得多。因此，我們將繼續盡最大努力適應市場狀況，但維持強勁的資產負債表和充足的流動性絕對是首要任務。

(Operator instructions) Jay McCanless, Wedbush.

（操作說明）Jay McCanless，Wedbush。

-- Just wonder -- just wanted to ask where your gross margins are right now on spec versus your build-to-order homes?

——只是想問一下——目前你們的預售房屋和定制房屋的毛利率分別是多少？

They're a little lower. It really depends on the community, every location little different. But in general, they're just a little lower than to be built.

它們稍微低一些。這真的取決於社區狀況，每個地方都略有不同。但總的來說，它們比要建造的要低一些。

And then Bob, you were talking about some of your competitors increasing co-broker spend, I guess, in terms of some of the larger competitors who said they might be pulling back a little bit. Are you seeing any evidence of that in the field? Or is everyone selling pretty hard to get lighter ahead of the spring season?

鮑勃，你剛才提到一些競爭對手增加了合作經紀人的支出，我猜是指一些規模較大的競爭對手錶示他們可能會稍微減少一些支出。你在實地考察中發現任何這方面的證據嗎？還是說大家都在努力減肥，迎接春天的到來？

I don't think, I made a comment about pulling back. What I said is that we have not elected to pay brokers more to drive traffic and incent sales. Our co-op rate has remained consistent throughout all of our divisions, probably over the last five-years. We've tried to be very consistent on that.

我不認為我說過要撤退的話。我說過，我們沒有選擇支付經紀人更多費用來吸引流量和促進銷售。在過去五年裡，我們所有部門的合作率一直保持穩定。我們一直努力在這方面保持一致。

Do what we can to have the best relationships we can, but not interested in buying the business and fearful of how you go back to where you once were if you start that, as I made a comment. I don't know if -- and I'm not saying a lot are doing it, but I know there's a few examples out there of some that are. Whether they pulled back, I don't know. I don't have current information on that.

我們會盡一切努力建立最好的關係，但我們對收購這家企業不感興趣，而且正如我之前評論的那樣，我們也擔心如果收購了這家企業，你會回到以前的狀態。我不知道——我並不是說很多人都在這樣做，但我知道有一些例子表明確實有人這樣做。他們是否撤退了，我不知道。我目前沒有這方面的資訊。

What was the other part of your question?

你問題的另一部分是什麼？

Well, just or people -- we've heard that some of your competitors are slowing down starts, but at the same time, we're hearing a lot of conversation about aggressively selling into year-end. I mean, to me, it feels like this is just a normal year where the industry is a little heavy on inventory. People are going to have to sell aggressively in the year-end. Is that what you're seeing out in the field right now or people being a little more reasoned with some of the discounts and incentives they're trying to offer?

嗯，就我們而言——我們聽說你們的一些競爭對手正在放慢啟動速度，但與此同時，我們也聽到很多關於積極銷售到年底的討論。我的意思是，在我看來，這感覺就像是正常的一年，只是產業庫存有點過高而已。年底的時候，人們必須採取積極的銷售策略。你現在在市場上看到的也是這種情況嗎？還是說人們在提供一些折扣和優惠時會比較理性一些？

That's always a community-by-community discussion. I mean, some builders, 100% back they're fairly aggressive. Some are not. It just depends on the location, et cetera. And you just need to be aware of what's going on in the marketplace. -- getting back to kind of our sales effort, we're trying to focus very much on internally to make sure we're getting all the leads that we can that we follow up on the leads as best we can -- we have more people focused on those leads.

這始終需要各個社區自行討論。我的意思是，有些建築商，100%支持，他們相當激進。有些則不是。這主要取決於地點等等因素。你只需要了解市場動態。 ——回到我們的銷售工作，我們正努力將重點放在內部，確保我們能夠獲得所有可能的銷售線索，並盡最大努力跟進這些線索——我們安排了更多的人專注於這些銷售線索。

We have -- in most of our communities, more than one salesperson. We try to be focused very much on controlling all the things we can control. we're spending more money today on sales training and driving leads online than we have in a long, long time, and we're going to continue to -- that's the blocking and tackling of our business.

在我們的大多數社區，我們都有不只一位銷售人員。我們努力專注於控制所有我們能夠控制的事情。如今，我們在銷售培訓和線上拓展客戶方面的投入比以往任何時候都多，而且我們還會繼續這樣做——這就是我們業務的基礎工作。

Don't often mention that on calls like this, but I'd rather spend money on that than on realtors. I'd rather spend money on that than on incentive. You have to do both sometime, but it all starts with us. And it's easy to get complacent during hot markets. But now more than ever, focusing on us is just absolutely the most important thing we can do.

雖然我很少在這樣的電話會議中提到這一點，但我寧願把錢花在這上面，也不願花在房地產經紀人身上。我寧願把錢花在這上面，而不是花在獎勵上。你有時必須兩者兼顧，但這一切都始於我們。在火熱的市場中，人們很容易變得自滿。但現在，比以往任何時候都更重要的是，專注於我們自己才是我們能做的最重要的事情。

And we have an opportunity. I mean, last year, we opened about 75 stores. This year, we're going to open more than 75 stores. So again, different location, different product, different price point in many situations, those are things we control. So those are the things we focus on every day. And yes, we do have higher spec limits. But again, we don't accept going in the specs have to be a lower margin. Hopefully, we're putting the best products on the best lots and that we're getting paid for that because that's the way the business is right now.

我們擁有一個機會。我的意思是，去年我們開了大約75家門市。今年，我們將開設超過75家門市。所以，很多情況下，不同的地點、不同的產品、不同的價格點，這些都是我們可以控制的因素。所以，這些就是我們每天關注的重點。是的，我們的確有更高的規格限制。但是，我們再次強調，我們不能接受規格參數必須降低利潤率。希望我們能把最好的產品放在最好的地塊上，並且得到相應的報酬，因為這就是目前的商業模式。

And I'm going to give a very specific example. I bragged about the fact that our mortgage and title operations had a tremendous quarter because they did. And I mentioned that we had a record capture rate of 93%. And I think a year ago, it was like 84% or something like 89%.

接下來我將舉一個非常具體的例子。我吹噓說我們的抵押貸款和產權業務本季業績非常出色，因為它們確實如此。我提到過，我們的捕獲率達到了創紀錄的 93%。我覺得一年前，這個數字大概是 84% 或 89%。

On the one hand, you could say, well, it should be higher. -- because you're so aggressively using mortgage rate buydowns and that is true. It should be higher. And I think it's even higher than it would be because of the training and the efforts that we're putting on the side of making certain that at each branch, each mortgage branch that we're doing the best we can to help people figure out the financing that's best for them in this somewhat challenging market.

一方面，你可能會說，嗯，利率應該更高才對——因為你們大力推行抵押貸款利率買斷政策，這沒錯。應該更高。我認為實際比例甚至更高，因為我們進行了培訓，並付出了諸多努力，確保每個分行、每個抵押貸款分行都能盡最大努力幫助人們在這個充滿挑戰的市場中找到最適合他們的融資方案。

And we could easily be happy with a capture rate of 85% or 88% would probably be at or near best in class. But with this higher capture rate, not only does that contribute to profitability, but we think it's contributing to sales performance.

我們完全可以接受 85% 或 88% 的捕獲率，這可能已經達到或接近同類最佳水平。但更高的轉換率不僅有助於提高獲利能力，我們認為它也有助於提升銷售業績。

And every buyer is different. Some buyers, especially more affordable homes, they may very well need help in closing costs. Some builders -- some buyers do need help. They want a 30-year fixed, lowest rate possible. Some buyers are okay with arms. Some are okay with buydowns. So again, it just depends on what the customer needs. We're not just throwing the most money at every deal we have.

每個買家的需求都不一樣。有些購屋者，尤其是購買價格較實惠的房屋的購屋者，很可能需要協助支付交易費用。有些建築商——有些買家——確實需要幫助。他們想要30年固定利率，利率盡可能低。有些買家並不介意買家攜帶武器。有些人可以接受降級買斷。所以，歸根究底，這取決於客戶的需求。我們並不是每筆交易都投入最多的資金。

Understood. I guess, the last one for me, with the balance sheet as strong as it is right now, is there any thought to doing some M&A, especially in the Midwest, down into the Carolinas, where you're already seeing pretty strong performance.

明白了。我想，最後一個問題是，鑑於目前的資產負債表如此強勁，是否有考慮進行一些併購，尤其是在中西部地區，一直到卡羅萊納州，那裡已經出現了相當強勁的業績。

There's nothing on the horizon. If something happened to show up in one of our existing markets or perhaps in a market that we're not in that we thought made a lot of sense. I think we take a very serious look at it. I mean, in the last six months, we've probably looked at a couple of deals, but right now, our job is to make sure we keep our balance sheet really strong, to your point and to grow in our existing markets.

前方一片漆黑。如果在我們現有的市場中，或者在我們尚未進入的市場中，出現了我們認為很有意義的事情。我認為我們應該非常認真地研究這個問題。我的意思是，在過去的六個月裡，我們可能考察過幾筆交易，但就目前而言，我們的工作是確保我們的資產負債表保持強勁，正如你所說，並在我們現有的市場中實現成長。

Every one of our existing markets has growth goals. We've said this before, and I'll say it again right now, our run rate today is around 9,000 units. We believe in the 17 markets that we're in that we can grow 13,000, 14,000 units without opening up in any new markets, just with the headroom that we have within our existing geographic footprint.

我們現有的每個市場都有成長目標。我們之前說過，我現在再說一遍，我們目前的生產速度約為 9,000 台。我們相信，在我們現有的 17 個市場中，無需開拓任何新市場，僅憑我們現有的地理覆蓋範圍，我們就能成長 13,000 至 14,000 套單元。

That, if we could grow that way, that would be the one that would be the most desirable. On the other hand, if something showed up and it made sense, we'd analyze it like any other land deal or opportunity, but there's nothing planned at this point.

如果我們能朝著那個方向發展，那將是最理想的發展方向。另一方面，如果出現合適的項目，我們會像分析其他土地交易或機會一樣進行分析，但目前還沒有任何計劃。

Okay. And then one more, just to kind of follow on that. Any inclination to talk about '26 community count especially with the amount of lots you guys have built up, it feels like that can grow count and possibly unit volumes in '26. Any thoughts on that?

好的。然後還有一個，算是接著剛才的話題。你們有沒有想過討論一下 2026 年的社區數量，特別是考慮到你們已經建造了這麼多地塊，感覺這可能會導致 2026 年的社區數量和單元數量增加。對此有什麼看法？

You mean, you're asking for guidance on projected community count growth for 2026.

你的意思是，你想了解 2026 年社區人口成長的預測情況。

I would never ask you for guidance, Bob. I'm just asking for how you're feeling about potential growth for next year?

鮑勃，我永遠不會向你尋求指導。我只是想問您對明年的潛在成長有何看法？

I think there will be community count growth next year.

我認為明年社區人口數量會增加。

Yes. I mean we own 24,000 lots. And -- .

是的。我的意思是，我們擁有24000塊地。和——。

We expect to have community count next year.

我們預計明年將進行社區人口普查。

Our target is always to grow community count in that 5% to 10% range a year. Like I said last year, it was 7% this year is probably going to be about 5%, even though we've slowed land purchases down the last couple of quarters. we're still in great shape to continue growth.

我們的目標始終是每年將社區成員數量增加 5% 到 10%。正如我去年所說，今年的成長率是7%，雖然過去幾季我們放緩了土地收購，但預計今年的成長率會在5%左右。我們仍然具備繼續成長的良好基礎。

There are no further questions at this time. I will now turn the call over to Phil for closing remarks.

目前沒有其他問題了。現在我將把電話交給菲爾，請他作總結發言。

Thank you very much for joining us. Look forward to talking to you next quarter.

非常感謝您的參與。期待下個季度與您交流。

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes your conference call for today. We thank you for participating and ask that you please disconnect your lines.

女士們、先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與，請您斷開線路。