Builder KB Home on outlook for Spring homebuying season Boston 25 News [Video]

LOS ANGELES — (AP) — Rising mortgage rates through much of 2023 kept many prospective homebuyers and sellers on the sidelines and the housing market in a deep slump.

Homebuilders responded by lowering prices and offering incentives like mortgage rate buydowns to help buyers get over their affordability hump. The approach helped lift sales of new U.S. homes 4.2% over 2022, but also cut into many builders’ profits.

Los Angeles-based KB Home, which builds homes in California, Texas, Florida and six other states, delivered fewer homes and posted lower earnings and revenue in the 12 months ended Nov. 30 compared with the same period a year earlier.

But the company’s new home orders soared in the first few weeks of its current fiscal quarter as mortgage rates eased off their late-October highs.

CEO Jeffrey Mezger recently spoke with The Associated Press about how the recent pullback in mortgage rates could …