NYT: High-End or Starter Homes, Builders Remain in a Slump

[NashVegas]

Two of the nation’s major home builders reported dismal results in their most recent quarters yesterday, confirming that the slump in the once-hot housing market is far from over.

Toll Brothers, the country’s largest builder of luxury homes, said revenue from home building fell 10 percent, to $1.81 billion in its fourth quarter, ended Oct. 31, compared with $2.01 billion in the period a year earlier. The results are preliminary; the company will report earnings on Dec. 5.
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The decline was not limited to the luxury segment of the housing market. The Atlanta-based Beazer Homes USA, a smaller rival that builds many homes for first-time buyers, reported that net income fell 44 percent, to $91.9 million, or $2.19 a share, in the quarter ended Sept. 30, from $164.4 million, or $3.61 a share, in the period in 2005.

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Home prices have not fallen uniformly across the nation; in some areas, they have, however, declined steeply. By September, the average price of a newly built home was about 2 percent below the price of a year earlier, according to government figures.

Stuck with unsold inventory that is the equivalent of more than six months of sales, builders have slammed on the brakes. New-housing starts in September were running about 18 percent below their level in September 2005.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/realestate/08build.html?ref=business