By Nicholas G. Miller

Shares of homebuilders were higher Friday after a disappointing jobs report indicated lower mortgage rates were on the way and raised the likelihood that the Fed would cut interest rates in September.

Shares of Lennar were up 3.8% at $143.31. D.R. Horton rose 3.3% to $182.46. PulteGroup grew 3.8% to $141.49. Hovnanian climbed 4.6% to $155.72. Toll Brothers was up 1.4% at $147.43.

Mortgage rates are often tied to the yields of 10-year Treasury notes, which, after the jobs report Friday, fell to their lowest level since April.

Homebuilders have seen stagnant home sales and plummeting margins with buyers put off by high mortgage rates. Many builders have been forced to offer aggressive sales incentives, often in the form of mortgage buydowns, to stimulate sales.

Hovnanian said last month its third-quarter earnings plummeted to a fifth of its previous year's earnings, largely due to the company's increased use of mortgage buydowns to address buyers' affordability concerns.

Some companies have also pulled back on building new homes due to the dormant housing market.

This week, 30-year mortgage rates fell to 6.5%, their lowest level since October of last year.

Write to Nicholas G. Miller at nicholas.miller@wsj.com.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 05, 2025 10:34 ET (14:34 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.