PulteGroup earned less on lower revenue, and booked 6 percent more new orders

PulteGroup sold fewer homes and made less money, and booked more orders doing it.

The homebuilder earned $472m in the second quarter, or $2.48 a diluted share, down from $608m and $3.03 a year earlier, in results dated July 22. Revenue fell 11 percent to $3.8bn. Closings dropped 8 percent to 6,997 houses, and the average price slipped 3 percent to $544,000. Gross margin held at 25.0 percent, narrower than the 27.0 percent of a year ago but 60 basis points wider than the first quarter.

Demand, though, firmed. Net new orders rose 6 percent to 7,536 homes, and their value rose 5 percent to $4.1bn, as Pulte ran 8 percent more communities than a year earlier. Ryan Marshall, the chief executive, said conditions stayed highly competitive under volatile rates and strained affordability, with early signs of stabilizing in some markets.

The read follows D.R. Horton's a day earlier. That builder reported flat orders and rising cancellations. Pulte's orders grew.