Builder Magazine: Construction

California Land Developer Betting on a Residential Revival

Mon, 1 Oct 2012 03:17:28 EST

FKC Properties has changed its name and is moving back to its long-time residential development roots.

Investors Snap Up Abandoned Phoenix Development

Tue, 5 Jun 2012 12:57:46 EST

While the area may be recovering, the new owners plan to hold rather than develop the property.

Modular Manufacturers Look Past Soft 2011 for Growth

Fri, 9 Nov 2012 12:03:40 EST

Leaders expect builders to seek prefab solutions as framers could be in short supply.

Editor's Notes: Is For-Rent For Real?

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 10:33:28 EST

The answer depends on the answer to another question: Is the downturn cyclical or secular?

Cover Story: The Road Goes On

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 10:28:13 EST

Mountain House?living proof that it's possible to rebuild the American Dream out of the stuff of nightmares.

Starts: November/December 2011

Fri, 3 Feb 2012 02:23:19 EST

David Weekley Homes reenters the Phoenix market with the acquisition of the bulk of local builder T.W. Lewis' lots. Plus, a look at the markets where the biggest builders' volume and share might not add up to good operating leverage.

Editor's Notes: Hail and Farewell!

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 10:36:55 EST

With the final issue of BIG BUILDER, a heartfelt thanks to the home building community.

On the Call: KB Home

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 10:11:57 EST

KB Home's impressive 40% year-over-year order growth during its fiscal third quarter had industry analysts during a related earnings call Friday asking what the company was doing right to achieve those gains even as its profitability slipped. (Click

The Wild, Wild World of Mortgage Financing

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 10:15:18 EST

Little more than a week and change remains before the loan limits on mortgages eligible to be purchased by the GSEs or insured by the FHA reset Oct. 1. Despite a clarion call from the NAHB and other industry groups like the NAR to lobby for an extension of the current higher limits, the efforts may be too little too late to avoid a reset in the immediate. In the words of one public home builder CEO during a recent earnings call, an extension is "not hopeless, but it is a long shot."

Ninth-Circuit Court Allows Suit Against Big Builders to Proceed

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 02:28:25 EST

A three-judge panel from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals late Wednesday allowed a class-action suit against eight large home builders over the impact of risky mortgage lending on homeowners in planned communities to proceed. A district court judge had earlier dismissed the suit, ruling that the homeowners who filed the suit lacked standing to file it. The appeals court reversed that ruling. The suit names Centex Homes (now PulteGroup), D.R. Horton, M.D.C. Holdings, Lennar Corp., Beazer Homes, Shea Homes, the Ryland Group, Standard Pacific Homes and several subsidiary mortgage companies.

JP Morgan Downgrades Hovnanian, KB

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 10:08:11 EST

J.P. Morgan home-building analyst Michael Rehaut on Thursday downgraded the stock of Hovnanian Enterprises (NYSE:HOV) to "underweight" from "neutral"and that of KB Home (NYSE:KBH) to "neutral" from "overweight." At the same time, Rehaut upgraded Standard Pacific (NYSE:SPF) to "neutral" from "underweight."

Hovnanian Sticks With Growth Plan

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 09:50:42 EST

Hovnanian Enterprises' fiscal third quarter results beat analyst estimates, showing management's progress in improving operations for the financially strapped company. The company's quarterly loss narrowed by roughly 30% from last year to $50.9 million while the company's sales increased by a third. A small increase in community counts (4%), as well as the calendar-driven benefit of an additional weekend in August to sell homes, helped drive the 33% jump in new orders. "Our performance is at an inflection point," said Hovnanian president and CEO Ara Hovnanian.

Hovnanian Narrows Loss, Beats Estimates

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 09:51:08 EST

Hovnanian Enterprises, Red Bank, N.J. (NYSE:HOV) on Wednesday after market close reported a net loss of $50.9 million (-$0.47 per share) for its fiscal third quarter ended July 31. The loss compared with a loss of $72.9 million, (-$0.92 per share) for the comparable quarter in 2010. The loss included impairments and charges of $11.4 million, compared with $49.0 million in last year's quarter. Analysts were expecting a loss of 51 cents per share, without impairments.

Big Money: Sourcing Solutions

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 10:35:03 EST

To centralize or to decentralize: Try the hybrid approach.

Starts: September 2011

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 10:40:27 EST

Ryland Exits Markets to Redeploy Capital

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 09:57:36 EST

Today's market finds a number of public home builders under pressure to spend some of the large amount of cash they've been sitting on as the downturn has drawn out. Their cash hoards are much larger than their shrunken operations necessitate, a fact that's coming out in the interest charges many are racking up quarter after quarter. The options are somewhat limited: repurchase shares, pay down debt, or buy more land.

Ryland Exits Dallas, Jacksonville Markets

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 11:09:53 EST

Ryland Group, Calabasas, Calif. (NYSE:RYL) on Friday announced it is winding down operations in the Dallas and Jacksonville markets. In a brief statement, the company said it "intends to complete all the homes currently under contract with customers and market its remaining available land in these divisions as part of a strategic plan to efficiently manage its invested capital."

Analyst: Hurricane Poses Risk to Builders

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 02:49:48 EST

As Hurricane Irene threatened much of the U.S. East Coast Friday, Wells Fargo home-building analyst Adam Rudiger assessed the impact the storm could have on the big public builders. His conclusion: The most exposed were NVR (NYSE:NVR) and Toll Brothers (NYSE:TOL). In a research alert to investors, Rudiger said all builders who operate in areas affected by the storm would likely face declines in traffic this weekend and perhaps physical damage to inventory.

After the Call: Toll Brothers

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 11:25:54 EST

The industry has reached a point in this down cycle where surviving it means more than just cutting costs and preserving cash. Home builder executives, even those whose companies are marginally profitable, have to figure out how to reinvest in their companies to improve and maintain profitability if current market conditions are the new normal. For Toll Brothers executives, getting to an answer as to where to begin to park some of the $1.18 billion in cash and marketable securities the company has sitting on its balance sheet is really about seizing opportunities rather than planning for them. "We continue to be opportunistic on all fronts," said CEO Doug Yearley during an earnings call earlier this week. "We don't plan our allocations."

Wall St. & Maine Column

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 11:27:09 EST

The major stock indices were well back into the green Thursday, with the Dow closing up 423, or 3.95%; the NASDAQ up 111, or 4.6%; and the S&P up 52, or 4.6%. This after a wicked whipsawing going back to Thursday last, when the market tanked, followed by a flat Friday, a freefall Monday, a recovery Tuesday, and another freefall Wednesday. Economists think the markets are pricing in a recession and that fear over the Europe financial crisis is justified. WS&M thinks all that may be true, but we insist that the big culprit is that same four letter word that caused the housing crash and the last financial crisis: Debt.