Hurricane Milton could slow down new home construction in the state of Florida, which could have a negative impact on the overall U.S. housing market.

What Happened: Hurricane Milton has left devastation in the state of Florida that impacts multiple sectors and will take time to clean up and restore portions of the state.

While portions of the cleanup effort will include the rebuilding and repair of existing homes, the hurricane could impact new homes built in Florida.

New home build permits could be delayed in portions of the state, while deliveries and orders could also be delayed on existing new homes. This could add costs to home builders who have large operations in the state of Florida, according to a Bloomberg report.

The report names Taylor Morrison Home Corp TMHC, PulteGroup PHM, Lennar Corp LEN and D.R. Horton Inc DHI as the home builders with the highest exposure in Florida.

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Why It’s Important: Florida accounts for 14% of single-family home permits and ranks second for new homes in the U.S., according to a Bloomberg report.

A report from Construction Coverage highlights Florida as ranking fifth for new home builds. Among the large cities tracked for the most new home builds, Florida has three cities on the list.

Jacksonville ranks third, Orlando ranks seventh and Tampa ranks 12^th. 

Investors could soon get more details on the impact Hurricane Milton has on new home builds in the state of Florida. Pulte reports quarterly earnings on Oct. 22, Taylor Morrison reports on Oct. 23 and D.R. Horton reports on Oct. 29.

Lennar reported quarterly financial results in September with revenue and earnings per share both beating estimates from analysts.

The company reported new orders were up 5% year-over-year to 20,587 homes and deliveries were up 16% year-over-year to 21,516 homes. Lennar reported a backlog of 16,944 homes worth an estimated $7.7 billion.

Outlooks from home builder companies could be conservative or guided down in the coming quarterly results and something investors should closely monitor.

The iShares U.S. Home Construction ETF ITB holds a basket of home building stocks with D.R. Horton (14.6%), Lennar (11.7%) and Pulte (7.8%) ranking first, second and fourth, respectively, in the fund by assets.

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