Lennar: A diversified homebuilder with fintech upside?

In November, new home sales increased 17% year over year to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 719,000 units, according to a Census Bureau report out just before Christmas. This is the strongest home-selling pace in over 12 years. After a decade of sputtering and false starts, things are looking up for the entire homebuilding sector.

One homebuilder looking to take advantage of the upswing is Lennar (NYSE: LEN). And this value stock is hoping its fintech initiatives will help it along the way.

There is currently a deep supply/demand imbalance with respect to the U.S. housing market. The latest National Association of Realtors Existing Home Sales report showed that inventory was 1.64 million units, which represents only a 3.7-month supply at the current annual sales rate of 5.35 million units per year. Historically, a balanced market (where supply and demand are matched) would have about 6 months' worth of homes available for sale. Why is there such a shortage with the U.S. housing supply?

Source Fool.com