National Home Builder.
New Home Construction · National · Buyer Registration
A top-10 national home builder operating across Texas, Florida, Arizona, Georgia, and Nevada needed to scale its new community registration pipeline without increasing cost-per-registration above $30. Using a Meta + Google dual-channel architecture, we delivered 8,400 buyer registrations at $23.80 CPL — attributing $245M in sales pipeline across 12 active communities — in a market environment where rising rates were reducing organic demand.
Geo
USA · Sun Belt Markets
Source
Meta + Google
Period
2023–2024 Ongoing
Tier
Home Builder · National
The Setup
What we were working with.
The Problem
The 2023–2024 housing market created a paradox for home builders: demand exists, but buyers are paralysed by mortgage rate uncertainty. Marketing needed to move buyers from passive interest to active community registration despite rate headwinds. Generic aspirational creative ("your dream home") was insufficient in this environment — buyers needed financial clarity before registering.
The Audience
Household formation households (ages 29–44), renters in markets with rent-vs-own cost parity, existing homeowners in the $450–700K equity range likely to trade up, and first-time buyer segments qualifying for builder rate buydown programs. Geographic targeting in Sun Belt markets with active community inventory, excluding ZIP codes exceeding builder delivery capacity.
Our Solution
Rate buydown creative as the primary acquisition message: "We'll buy your rate down to 4.99% — here's what that means for your monthly payment at $450K." Financial benefit framing replaced lifestyle aspiration. Google Search captured active searchers, Meta reached passive interest. Community-specific inventory ads ("4 homes remaining at [community] from $385K") created urgency without manufactured scarcity.
The Mechanics
What drove the numbers.
What We Learned
The takeaways that repeat.
Rate buydown creative solved the 2023-24 rate paralysis problem
In a 7%+ mortgage rate environment, aspirational home creative generates interest without action. Framing the rate buydown program as the opening message — "Lock in 4.99% through our builder partner" — gave buyers a financial reason to register today rather than wait for market rates to fall. This single message shift increased registration rate by 2.8×.
Community inventory urgency outperformed brand creative 4:1
Community-specific inventory ads showing real unit counts and real pricing drove 4× higher registration rates than brand creative. A buyer in Phoenix doesn't need general builder branding — they need to know which communities are available in their target area at their target price, and how many homes are left. Specificity creates urgency.
Google Search + Meta retargeting architecture reduces overall CPA by 32%
Google Search captured high-intent buyers already searching ("new construction homes Scottsdale AZ from $400K") at $18.40 CPR. Meta retargeted Google website visitors who didn't register at $8.20 CPR — because they were already warm. Running both channels in concert, with proper UTM attribution and audience exclusions, reduced blended CPA to $23.80 vs $34.90 on Meta alone.
Sun Belt geographic expansion in high-migration corridors maximised budget efficiency
Budget was allocated based on in-migration data, not equally across all markets. Texas (Austin, San Antonio, DFW) and Florida (Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville) received 68% of budget because in-migration rates and rent-to-own transition propensity were highest. Under-allocating to high-migration markets in favor of "balanced" geographic spread was the incumbent approach — we reversed it.
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