UHG November 6, 2025

United Homes Group Q3 2025 Earnings Call - Navigating Uneven Market with September Sales Rebound and Expanding Communities

Summary

United Homes Group reported a challenging third quarter in 2025 amidst a sluggish housing market marked by elevated inventory levels and affordability pressures. The company experienced a decline in revenue and home closings compared to the previous year, with a net loss impacted by derivative liabilities tied to stock price fluctuations. However, September delivered the strongest order month of the year and increased buyer traffic, signaling potential market stabilization. The company expanded its active communities from 46 at the start of the year to 58 by quarter-end, highlighting a strategic focus on growth despite near-term challenges. Management remains cautiously optimistic, emphasizing cost reductions and operational efficiencies while maintaining confidence in housing fundamentals and consumer demand for new construction.

Key Takeaways

  • United Homes Group's board completed a strategic review and decided to remain an independent public company amid current macroeconomic conditions.
  • Several board members plan to resign by November 14, with steps underway to appoint new independent directors to comply with NASDAQ rules.
  • Q3 2025 saw uneven demand due to high inventory levels and affordability challenges, negatively impacting industry confidence and sales.
  • September 2025 marked the company's best order month year-to-date, with a significant increase in weekly buyer traffic from 200 to 350-400 visits.
  • Reported home sales gross margin was 17.7%, with adjusted margin at 19.6%, pressured by increased incentives and discounting on finished inventory.
  • United Homes increased its active communities to 58 in Q3 2025 from 46 at the start of the year, aiming to boost future sales and closings.
  • Q3 2025 revenue declined 23.4% year-over-year to $90.8 million, driven primarily by a drop in home closings from 369 to 262 homes.
  • Net loss for Q3 narrowed to $31.3 million, including a $27.2 million non-cash loss from fluctuations in derivative liabilities related to stock price.
  • Average sales price rose 8.1% to approximately $346,000 despite lower home closings and sales volume.
  • The company controlled roughly 7,700 lots of land through ownership, options, and land banking, supporting growth plans in a challenging market environment.

Full Transcript

Desiree, Conference Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. My name is Desiree, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the United Homes Group Third Quarter 2025 earnings call and webcast. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. Please be advised that this call is being recorded. Thank you. I would now like to turn the conference over to Erin Reeves McGinnis with United Homes Group. You may begin.

Erin Reeves McGinnis, Investor Relations, United Homes Group: Good morning and welcome to United Homes Group Third Quarter of 2025 earnings call. Before the call begins, I would like to note that this call will include forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. United Homes Group cautions that forward-looking statements are subject to numerous assumptions, risks, and uncertainties which change over time. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the risk factors described by United Homes Group in its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Accordingly, forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any subsequent date, and you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements.

We do not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date they were made, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws. Additionally, reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures discussed on this call to the most directly comparable GAAP measures can be accessed through the company’s website and in its SEC filings. Hosting the call today are United Homes Group’s Chief Executive Officer, Jack Micenko, and Chief Financial Officer, Keith Feldman. With that, I’d like to turn the call over to Jack.

Jack Micenko, Chief Executive Officer, United Homes Group: Thanks, Erin, and good morning to everyone. We appreciate you joining us today to discuss United Homes Group’s third quarter performance and our outlooks for the period ahead. Let me begin with an important update on governance. Earlier this year, our board formed a special committee of independent directors to review a full range of strategic alternatives for our company. After a comprehensive process and in consultation with our legal and financial advisors, the special committee unanimously determined that continuing to execute as an independent public company is the best path forward given the current macroeconomic environment. In connection with the conclusion of this review, several members of our board notified us of their intention to resign effective November 14th. We are taking steps to identify and appoint new independent directors in a timely manner to maintain compliance with our NASDAQ listing requirements.

While transitions of this nature can understandably raise questions, I want to highlight that in their resignation letters, the departing directors expressed their views on governance and structure while also noting the capability of the company’s current management team to address the current market environment and operational challenges. We’re grateful for their service, and we wish them well in their future endeavors. Turning now to market conditions, we experienced uneven demand in the third quarter as elevated new and existing home sale inventory levels, combined with affordability pressures and a lack of consumer confidence, continued to weigh on the industry. That said, we saw encouraging trends as the quarter progressed, culminating in September being our best order month year to date. Traffic also improved meaningfully, averaging between 350-400 weekly visits during the third quarter, compared to around 200 per week in the first half of the year.

The increase in buyer engagement is an encouraging leading indicator, especially as we continue to expand our community footprint. On the margin front, we delivered reported home sales gross margins of 17.7% or 19.6% on an adjusted basis. While these levels remain under pressure due to elevated incentive activity and higher discounting of new finished inventory in a competitive environment, our efforts to right-size the business, including targeted headcount reductions and cost savings, are positioning us to better navigate current market conditions while maintaining the capacity to drive growth. Looking ahead, new community openings should help increase sales and closings as we currently have 58 active communities versus 46 at the beginning of the year. To sum up, while industry conditions remain uneven, our September rebound, improving traffic trends, and successful new community openings demonstrate the resilience of our business.

We remain realistic about near-term market challenges, but confident that fundamentals of housing demand, namely the need for new construction, favorable demographics, and consumer aspiration for home ownership, position us well for the future. With that, I’d like to turn the call over to Keith, who will provide more detail on our operational and financial results.

Keith Feldman, Chief Financial Officer, United Homes Group: Thank you, Jack, and good morning. For the third quarter of 2025, we reported a net loss of $31.3 million, which includes a loss from the change in fair value of derivative liabilities of $27.2 million, primarily related to the accounting for contingent earn-out and warrant liabilities, which fluctuates each quarter based on our ending stock price and warrant price. The earn-out will be settled exclusively in common shares upon reaching certain stock price hurdles and will never result in a cash expense for the company. For the nine months ending September 30, 2025, net loss was $19.5 million, which includes a loss from the change in fair value of $12.2 million, primarily related to the accounting for potential earn-out and warrant liabilities. Revenue for the third quarter of 2025 was $90.8 million, a decrease of $27.8 million from $118.6 million in the third quarter of 2024.

Revenue for the nine months ending September 30, 2025, was $283.3 million, compared to $328.9 million for the nine months ending September 30, 2024. The year-over-year decline was primarily driven by lower home closings, partially offset by an increase in average sales price. Home closings for the third quarter of 2025 totaled 262 homes, down from 369 homes in the prior year. Home closings for the nine months ending September 30, 2025, were 817 homes, compared to 1,017 homes for the same period in 2024. The average sales price for production-built homes during the quarter was approximately $346,000, an 8.1% increase compared to the $320,000 in the third quarter of 2024. Net new orders for the third quarter were 324 homes, down from 341 homes in the prior year period. As Jack mentioned, we saw encouraging sequential improvement in sales as the quarter progressed.

Net new orders for the nine months ending September 30, 2025, were 924 homes, compared to 1,048 homes in 2024. Backlog as of September 30, 2025, stood at 264 homes, representing approximately $94.3 million in value. Gross profit for the third quarter of 2025 was $16 million, down $6.4 million from $22.4 million in the prior year period. Gross margin declined by 120 basis points to 17.7% compared to the same period last year. Gross margin for the third quarter reflected continued pricing pressure as we increased discounting and incentives to move inventory. This was partially offset by ongoing construction cost savings driven by our systematic rebid initiative. Adjusted gross margin was 19.6%, down from 20.6%. For the nine months ending September 30, 2025, gross profit was $50.1 million, which decreased from $58.1 million in the same period in 2024. Gross margin remained consistent from the prior year at 17.7%.

In the nine months ending September 30, 2025. Adjusted gross margin was 20% for the nine months ending September 30, 2025, a decrease from 20.7% in the prior period. Selling, general, and administrative expenses for the third quarter were $17.6 million, excluding approximately $2.6 million in stock-based compensation expense and transaction costs. Adjusted SG&A totaled $15 million, or 16.5% of revenue. For the nine months ending September 30, 2025, SG&A expense was $51.7 million, and adjusted SG&A expense was $44.9 million, or 15.9% of revenue. As of September 30, 2025, we had 56 active communities, up slightly from 55 a year ago. Community count began to trend upward in the second half of 2025. As of today, we have 58 active communities.

As of September 30, 2025, we controlled approximately 7,700 lots, which include a mix of owned, optioned, and land banked assets, positioning us to drive further growth and capture market opportunities. We had approximately $83.1 million of liquidity in cash and availability on our credit facility as of Q3. In light of the announcement Jack previously discussed, we are focused on improving operations and profitability by executing on our key initiatives and driving efficiencies through cost savings objectives. That concludes our prepared remarks.

Desiree, Conference Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today’s call. Thank you all for joining in. You may now disconnect.