M/I Homes, Inc.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the MA Homes, Inc. Second Quarter Earnings Conference Call. At this time, the lines are in a listen-only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question and answer session. If at any time during this call you need assistance, please press star zero for the operator. This call is being recorded on Wednesday, July 30th, 2024. I would now like to turn the conference over to Phil Creek. Please go ahead.

Thank you. Joining me on the call today is Bob Schottenstein, our CEO and President, and Derek Clutch, President of our mortgage company. First, to address regulation fair disclosure, we encourage you to ask any questions regarding issues that you consider material during this call. because we are prohibited from discussing significant non-public items with you directly. And as to forward-looking statements, I want to remind everyone that the cautionary language about forward-looking statements contained in today's press release also applies to any comments made during this call. Also be advised that the company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements made during this call. With that, I'll turn the call over to Bob.

Thanks, Bill. Good morning, and thank you for joining us today. We had a very strong second quarter, highlighted by record-setting revenue, income, gross margins, and pre-tax margins. We were very pleased with our second quarter results, clearly one of the best quarters in company history. We were particularly pleased with our performance given the general economic uncertainty that dominated the second quarter. A quarter that featured rising rates and a fair amount of rate volatility. A slight decline in both traffic and demand when compared to the first quarter. And an overall general sense that buyers were becoming slightly more cautious about purchasing a new home. Even though we have seen a rise in inventory in select markets, most notably Florida and Texas, we strongly believe that the underlying fundamentals of our industry remain strong. There exists a housing shortage in every one of our 17 markets, and we continue to see an ever increasing number of millennials and Gen Z buyers seeking home ownership. All of this suggests a very bright future for our industry. In terms of our performance,