Chief Executive Officer, Executive Vice President & Director, Meritage Homes
Search every verified Phillippe Lord interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Phillippe Lord, CEO of Meritage Homes, appeared on CNBC multiple times between 2023 and 2024 to discuss the housing market. He stated that the company focuses on providing move-in ready inventory to fill a void in the market, particularly for first-time home buyers. Lord noted that Meritage Homes uses incentives to buy down mortgage rates for customers, describing the ability to reduce a rate from the high 6s or 7s to below 5% as key to unlocking affordability. He attributed sustained home prices to an imbalance of demand over supply and expressed that a strong economy and low unemployment are positive factors for housing, while adding that any policy changes affecting affordability are critical to the business. Lord commented on the company's shareholder return strategy, which included implementing a dividend, buying back shares, and announcing a stock split. He characterized the housing market as having low supply industry-wide, with new home construction providing an alternative to the "locked in" existing home market. Lord stated that building costs had trended down from their peak and that the company was planning its business around the expectation that mortgage rates would "stay higher for longer."
“Rates moved down earlier this year, but then they went back up, even with the Fed cutting rates, mortgage rates really don't move off of that as much as they do off the ten-year. So rates are going to stay higher for longer. We expected that.”
“As a new home builder, we have a unique opportunity within that environment. We have been able to buy rates down for our customers, which is allowing us to perform better despite the existing home market really being locked in with all of these folks sitting on a rate below 5%, when rates are this high.”
“Inventory is definitely up across all the markets, both existing home inventory is slowly coming back, and then new home construction is definitely up as well. That's really intentional by all of us. We still see an opportunity to sort of fill that void by providing move-in ready inventory for all of these customers th...”
“With rates in the high 6s or the 7s, we're able to buy people down into something below 5%, which really is the key to unlocking affordability for most of our customers, which are first-time home buyers.”
Phillippe Lord, Meritage Homes CEO, joins CNBC's 'The Exchange' to discuss what to expect in the upcoming year for home ...
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