5 minute read“Home price drops” is the phrase buyers cannot stop typing into search bars.
Google Trends shows the term hitting its highest point in two years.
AI tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity report the same surge in queries. Social media threads echo the belief that waiting will pay off. Buyers are convinced prices will fall, and that belief has become the biggest shadow over new-home sales.
All eyes have been on the Federal Reserve today. Markets watched for any hint that a September rate cut could arrive.
As expected, the Fed held its rates steady.
Obsess Over Buyers Who Are Still Active
Even in the most challenging market, some buyers are not waiting. Builders who focus on these groups and engage them with the right messages can move the sales needle now.
- Discretionary buyers. Many older buyers are not sensitive to rates or price fluctuations. They buy what they want, when they want it.
- Adult children backed by family wealth. Millennials and Gen Z adults often turn to the “bank of mom and dad” to help them buy their first home.
- Life-event movers. Family formation, job relocations, or divorce compel some buyers to act regardless of market conditions.
Finding and converting these groups takes skill and high-performance competition. Spray-and-pray marketing no longer works. Data precision and personalized engagement are essential. As Laskowski puts it:
Every major conversion page—your community pages, your homepage, your area pages—should be pulled into a single report. You need to know the conversion rate on each page, obsess over the pages that are underperforming, and fix them.”
From ‘Only Game in Town’ to Real Competition
During 2023 and part of 2024, builders enjoyed a rare advantage. Existing-home inventory was locked up by owners sitting on 3% mortgage rates. Rentals were expensive, with rates surging post-COVID. For a moment, new-home builders were the only game in town.
That moment is over.
- Resale listings are returning, even if slowly.
- Rental prices have flattened or even dropped in some markets.
- Buyers now have more options, and many think waiting will get them a better deal.
This shift means builders cannot count on tailwinds. They need to push harder to sell their current inventory and rethink their product for the new environment.
The Ground-Game Playbook
Chris Laskowski’s approach starts with conversion obsession.
This upcoming quarter, the number one priority we have is all about conversion rates. It’s all conversion rates,” he says. “We still have traffic. We still have people interested. What’s happening now is uncertainty that’s pulling people back.”
To overcome that uncertainty, builders need to know precisely where buyers drop off in their digital journey. They need to fix weak pages, sharpen their value propositions, and meet buyers with the right message at the right stage.
Laskowski stresses the need for segmentation.
You can’t take a one-size-fits-all approach. We bucket every conversion into the top, middle, and bottom of the funnel. If someone wants to download a guide, don’t scare them off by asking for seven fields of personal data.”
AI is another pillar of his strategy.
If you’re not structuring your content for AI search now, you’re already falling behind. Every page should be framed around the questions people are asking. Reviews, ratings, and reputation will become your biggest signals in AI-driven results.”
Builders who start optimizing now can gain a first-mover advantage.
Builders are losing organic search traffic to AI right now—and they don’t even have data on it,” Laskowski says. “There’s no Google Search Console for ChatGPT. The ones who start optimizing early will win.”
Sales Teams as Advisors
Laskowski believes that sales associates must evolve beyond order-taking. They need to act as trusted financial guides, helping buyers cut through fear and confusion. This aligns with Cotality’s findings that confidence — not speed — drives the buyer journey.
Sales teams can’t just be order-takers anymore,” Laskowski notes. “They need to act like financial advisors—guiding buyers through the uncertainty with personalized advice, incentives, and real transparency.”
Builders who invest in training their teams to build trust and offer solutions are far more likely to capture today’s cautious buyers.
Stop Doing What Doesn’t Work
Part of Laskowski’s playbook is knowing what to stop.
Stop posting generic floor plan collages on social media,” he says. “They have zero thumb-stopping power. Stop blasting your entire CRM with one-size-fits-all emails. Segment and personalize, or you’re wasting effort.”
These tactics no longer move buyers. Precision and relevance do.
Push With Agency
The Fed’s decisions on rates matter. But, are they the key to moving homes off the books today? Don’t bet on it. Builders who wait for a market shift risk losing ground to those who act.
The task now is twofold:
- Sell through existing inventory and land positions with data-driven targeting and strong buyer engagement.
- Pivot product strategy for the long game, designing homes and communities that meet the new affordability reality.
This is a moment for agency. Not passive hope. Not waiting on economic winds. Builders who combine Laskowski’s data precision with the human power of trusted sales guidance will capture the buyers who are ready and willing — the discretionary buyer, the family-backed first-time buyer, and the life-event mover.
The market is no longer the “only game in town.” It is fiercely competitive again. The time to hesitate is through. The time to get “Fed up” with an interest rate regime that’s going too slow to make much of a difference has come and gone.
Success – for some, survival – will belong to those who act now, measure everything, and push with precise focus.
