Skip to: Content
Skip to: Site Navigation
Skip to: Search

September 7, 2008 12:38:17 AM CDT

Learn about Newser Points »

« Back to the grid | Next story »

Housing Crash Pushes Home Builder Into Red

Posted Dec 6, 07 7:49 AM CST in Business 

(Newser) – Toll Brothers, the country's largest luxury homebuilder, today reported its first quarterly loss in 21 years, Bloomberg reports, as the housing slump drove away buyers and forced the company to write down land. “Demand has just fallen off the table,” one analyst explains. Toll lost $81.8 million, or $0.52 per share, but the shares actually rose 1.7%, because analysts had predicted losses of $0.71 per share.

Chairman Robert Toll blamed “chatter about housing” for scaring away buyers. “As soon as that fear leaves the market we’ll be back on top,” he predicted. Toll took $314.9 million in writedowns, less than the $450 million the company predicted Nov. 8. Shares have fallen 36% this year, but until now, the company hadn’t broken its streak of 85 consecutive profitable quarters.

Source Bloomberg

0 comments | Print E-mail | Digg Seed this on Newsvine Add this link to Del.icio.us StumbleUpon

Related Newser Stories

  • Home Prices Fall Again; Rate of Decline Sets Record

    Jul 29, 08 11:01 AM CDT
    Home Prices Fall Again; Rate of Decline Sets Record Home prices continued to nosedive in May, a signal that the housing crisis may be worsening and a red flag for the credit markets and Wall Street, reports the New York Times. Every region covered by the S&P/Case-Schiller home-price index showed a drop compared to May 2007, with the rate of decline setting a record for the 21-year-old metric.
    More »

  • TV Home Shows Boom During Bust

    Jun 12, 08 9:20 AM CDT
    TV Home Shows Boom During Bust Home shows are becoming the heavyweights of reality television, even as the housing market continues to plummet, the New York Times reports. HGTV and TLC have million-plus nightly audiences as shows that provide step-by-step guidance to potential homesellers and buyers appeal to viewers weary of past hits that traded on big bucks through real-estate speculation. More »

  • Federal Mortgage Plan Not Helping the Neediest: Critics

    Apr 29, 08 4:57 PM CDT
    Federal Mortgage Plan Not Helping the Neediest: Critics A plan to federally subsidize the refinancing of troubled mortgages has in fact helped relatively few of the most at-risk borrowers, the New York Times reports. Though Bush administration officials said FHA Secure has benefited 150,000, federal statistics show that only 1,729 of those mortgages were delinquent. “They came to us before they got into trouble,” one official said. More »

  • New-Home Sales Hit Lowest Level Since '91

    Apr 24, 08 10:53 AM CDT
    New-Home Sales Hit Lowest Level Since '91 New-home sales fell yet again in March, the Wall Street Journal reports, with single-family sales off 8.5% to an annual rate of 526,000, the lowest level since 1991. Analysts had expected a drop of only 1.9%. The median price, meanwhile, plummeted 13.3%, to $227,600. With an 11-month supply of homes available—the most since 1981—prices will likely continue to fall. More »

  • March Home Sales, Prices Fall

    Apr 22, 08 10:02 AM CDT
    March Home Sales, Prices Fall Prices on existing homes fell in March, but buyers stayed away, either unable to get loans, or betting on yet bigger drops, Bloomberg reports. Sales dropped 2%, to an annual rate of 4.93 million, as the median price fell to $200,700 from $217,400 last year. The number of available homes meanwhile swelled by 40,000, exacerbating supply problems. More »

An unfinished interior of a home in a Toll Brothers development in Oaks, Pa. is shown in this Dec. 5, 2006 file photo. Toll Brothers Inc., the nation's largest builder of luxury homes, said today that...   (Associated Press)
A Toll Brothers Inc. home is shown under construction in Oaks, Pa., in this Aug. 22, 2006, file photo. Toll Brothers Inc., the nation's largest builder of luxury homes, on Thursday, Nov. 8, 2007 said...   (Associated Press)
A home is offered for sale at the Toll Brothers Country Club Estates luxury housing development in Moorpark, Calif., Wednesday, Aug. 22, 2007. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)   (Associated Press)
« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow
Our editors also recommend:

Threads (1 of 1)

Tags

housing market  • housing crisis  • earnings reports  • Toll Brothers


Loading...

Premium Articles from HighBeam

Find more articles like this

Today's Most Popular


Other Business Stories

What is Newser?

2008 Codie Finalist

Newser gives you more news in less time. We search for the best and most important stories all over the web, read them for you, and deliver concise and sharp summaries—along with links to the full text. Newser provides a way to stay on top of an ever-expanding horizon of news and opinion—politics, sports, business, trends, technology, personalities, crimes, and controversies. Newser keeps you not just better informed, but, with our signature graphic interface and smart condensed format, more enjoyably informed.

Learn more »