One of Zonda’s most popular articles of 2025, “Where Is D.R. Horton Where You Are Not?,“ highlighted the three segments where D.R. Horton has particularly high market share—the Deep South, lesser-known Tennessee markets, and coastal, or near-coastal, cities.
As a follow-up, the team is shifting their focus to Lennar, a company that has held its position as the nation’s second-largest builder for over a decade.
Lennar: The Fast Facts
- 70-year legacy: The company was founded in 1954.
- Scale: Over one million homes built to date.
- Recent momentum: Closed 80,210 new homes in 2024, up 10% from 73,087 homes in 2023.
- Diverse portfolio: Products range from entry-level and move-up to multigenerational and active-adult lifestyle.
- Footprint: Active across 30 states.
Lennar has drawn industry attention for its “volume and even-flow production” strategy—a commitment to consistent housing starts that was reaffirmed during their recent earnings calls.
“We will maintain responsible volume to maintain an affordable cost structure, and we will find our floor and rebuild our margin as the overall housing market continues to remain short on supply,” executive chairman and CEO Stuart Miller shared during the builder’s most recent earnings call in December.
The company is also one of the most prominent builders moving toward a land-light model, holding less land on its balance sheet to reduce overall inventory.
“Currently, less than 5% of our land is on our balance sheet. Accordingly, our overall inventory has been reduced from just under $20 billion one year ago to just under $12 billion today,” Miller said. “With our new greater focus as a manufacturing company, we have also consistently reduced our vertical construction cost to build over the past two years, from 2023 to 2025, by approximately 10%.”
By volume, Lennar’s top five production markets—Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Tampa, and Phoenix—largely align with the nation’s top housing hubs. A notable outlier is Tampa; while it ranks as the 12th largest market nationally, it is a top five market for Lennar. Conversely, Atlanta ranks as the 5th largest market in the U.S. but falls to 28th for Lennar. Note: All of the data referenced in this report is calculated using the last 12 months data, ending October 2025.
By overall market share, Lennar is dominant in the three largest states in the country. Among their top 20 markets with the highest market share (20%+):
- Six were in California: San Diego, Fresno, Los Angeles/OC, Stockton, Sacramento, and Bakersfield
- Two were in Texas: Corpus Christi and San Antonio
- Four were in Florida: Miami, Cape Coral, Gainesville, and Tampa
Coverage above sourced from Lennar.com. Plus, the insights in this article were taken from the introduction of a more in-depth research report published in Zonda’s National Outlook.
