Builder Pulte Narrows Second Quarter Loss

Bloomfield Hills, MI, July 24, 2008--Pulte Homes Inc. said Wednesday its second-quarter loss narrowed from a year ago as the home builder booked fewer charges on land and unsold inventory despite a worsening housing market.

The builder said it lost $158.4 million, or 63 cents per share, in the three months ended June 30. That compares with a loss of $507.6 million, or $2.01 per share, a year ago.

Revenue dropped 20 percent to $1.63 billion from $2.02 billion in the second quarter of 2007.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial were expecting Pulte to post a loss of 69 cents per share on sales of $1.56 billion.

"The operating environment for homebuilding continued to deteriorate during the second quarter of 2008," Richard J. Dugas Jr., Pulte's president and chief executive, said in a press release. "Buyer confidence remains under pressure, both from the weakness in housing as well as concerns about the overall economy.

Pulte, which was ranked the nation's fourth-largest home builder in 2007 by Builder magazine, has operations in 26 states.

Pulte said net new orders for the second quarter totaled 5,133 homes, valued at $1.41 billion. That compares with 7,532 home orders worth $2.42 billion that the generated in the prior-year quarter.

The builder closed 5,438 homes during the quarter, down 8 percent from the same period last year. The average selling price of Pulte's homes fell 11 percent to $286,000.

As of June 30, Pulte's backlog, or orders for homes that had yet to close, stood at 8,254 homes valued at $2.4 billion.