David Weekley Achieves Largest Private Builder Status

Stop the presses: David Weekley Homes eclipsed Shea Homes as the biggest private for-profit builder in the country last year, according to Builder magazine’s Builder 100 survey. Companies in Builder magazine’s annual Builder 100 list, to be released online in early May, are ranked by closings.

Weekley swept past Shea Homes last year on the strength of its power in Texas markets, where it does half of its business. The Houston-based company had drawn within 300 closings of the top spot the year before. Shea Homes suffered from weakness in California and Arizona markets.

Weekley jumped two spots to No. 16 on the list, closing 4,587 homes last year, compared to 4,325 for Shea. Closings at Weekley were off only 14 percent, compared to 25 percent for Shea.

Shea remained the largest private builder in terms of revenue, with $2.15 billion in revenue, followed by Weekley at $1.34 billion, and the Related Group, a Miami-based condominium builder, at $1.257 billion.

D.R. Horton Tops the Builder 100 for the sixth time

Another Texas-based builder, D.R. Horton, topped the Builder 100 list for the sixth consecutive year. Horton closed 37,717 homes last year, a 29 percent drop from last year. New-home sales in general fell 24 percent last year.

Centex jumped over Pulte to take the third spot on the Builder 100. And NVR leapt from ninth to seventh, pushing Beazer Homes and The Ryland Group down a notch. Here’s the order of the top 10 finish.

As previously reported, the market share of the top 10 builders dropped last year, compared to the overall housing market.

Learn more about markets featured in this article: Miami, FL.