Why Opendoor Stock Dropped 21% in the First Half of 2026

Opendoor Technologies (NASDAQ: OPEN) stock dropped 21% in the first half of the year, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence. After it skyrocketed with the help of social media and retail investors last year, it's been slowly coming back to earth as the housing market remains under pressure.

A new CEO and strategy

There's been a lot going on at Opendoor over the past year. A concerted effort by retail investors to shake things up resulted in the previous CEO being ousted and replaced by Kaz Nejatian, a Shopify veteran. He has changed the digital real estate company's focus, and there's been some progress.

There's been some of the garden variety of change, such as bringing in more artificial intelligence (AI) to become more efficient and work faster. Opendoor is also creating more options for customers, such as its cash now, more later product, which accounted for a third of acquisition contracts in the first quarter.

Image source: Getty Images.

The highlight of the strategy, though, and where it truly acts differently, is its focus on volume and velocity. Previously, it put efforts into finding bargains and focusing on spread. Nejatian's take was that this was leading to the purchase of worse homes, which were harder to sell. The new model is buying excellent homes and turning them over more quickly, even if it's a lower spread, and the results have been promising in the limited time it's been going on.

In the 2026 first quarter, it purchased 45% more homes sequentially, and it had 5,000 under contract, double the fourth-quarter number and the highest number since 2022. The number of homes on the market for more than 120 days decreased from 33% the quarter before to 10%, below the the 33% market average. Contribution margin improved every month since September, when this all got started, and recent monthly cohorts are selling faster than corresponding months for every year since the pandemic.

A reality check

This kind of progress should send the stock up, not down. But after the stock had an astronomical rise last year, the company is now doing the practical work of demonstrating that it can meet the moment. Early progress is great, but Opendoor is unprofitable and operating in a challenging environment. Interest rates aren't coming down right now, and the housing market is still under pressure.

The market has already priced in a potential recovery, and the company is still proving itself.

Jennifer Saibil has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Shopify. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.