Top 100 Home Builders Gained Market Share in 2005

Washington, DC, May 17, 2006--More than one in five new-home buyers bought their homes from the nation's top 10 builders in 2005, Builder magazine reveals in its annual Builder 100 list, published in the magazine's May issue. Together, the top 10 builders accounted for 20.97 percent of the home building market, up from 19.7 percent in 2004. Fort Worth, Texas-based D.R. Horton held steady in the No. 1 position for the fourth consecutive year, closing 51,383 homes during 2005. Rounding out the top 10 were fellow public home builders Pulte Homes, Lennar Corp., Centex Corp., KB Home, Beazer Homes USA, Hovnanian Enterprises, The Ryland Group, M.D.C. Holdings, and NVR. America's top 100 home builders delivered 504,670 homes and captured 36.57 percent of the new-home market in 2005. That's an increase from 35.18 percent in 2004, when the top 100 home builders delivered 448,851 new homes. "The top builders have proven their ability to grow quickly. Now the question is how much more of the market they'll control in the future," says Boyce Thompson, editorial director of Builder, published by Hanley Wood, LLC. Just 20 years ago, the top 100 builders captured less than 25 percent of the market, and the top 10 companies built 7.56 percent of all new homes. It's clear that the housing boom extended through 2005 for most Builder 100 companies, which averaged 28 percent revenue growth and 16 percent closings growth for the year. Newport Beach, Calif.-based Fieldstone Communities increased its deliveries more than any other builder on the list, by 131 percent, to 1,622. Rapid price appreciation also aided the Builder 100. Sixty builders reported gross margins of more than 20 percent, while 50 reported net margins of 10 percent or more. Builder has published the Builder 100 annually since 1984, ranking home builders by the number of new homes they deliver. The builders' market share is derived by dividing Builder 100 deliveries by the sum of new-home sales and for-sale condominium completions, as released by the U.S. Census Bureau. In 2005, the Builder 100 delivered 504,670 homes; the U.S. Census Bureau counted 1,282,000 new-home sales and 98,000 for-sale condominium completions. The complete Builder 100 report, including sortable and past years' data, can be found at www.builderonline.com/builder100.