Hovnanian Expects 3Q Charges

Red Bank, NJ, August 13, 2007--Hovnanian Enterprises said it anticipates large charges for land impairments and writeoffs in the third quarter due a continued slowdown in home sales and pricing in certain areas.

The luxury homebuilder expects to record pretax charges between $90 million and $110 million for the quarter.

Hovnanian also said its fiscal third-quarter home deliveries slipped 31% as the housing downturn continues. The preliminary estimate excludes 329 homes in unconsolidated joint ventures.

Net contracts declined 24% to 2,539 from a year ago, excluding 255 pacts for unconsolidated joint ventures.

Contract backlog as of July 31 dropped 31% to 7,126 homes, excluding unconsolidated joint ventures.