Miami, FL, January 17, 2007--Lennar swung to a loss in the fourth quarter as home builders struggled with plunging sales and write-downs on a weaker housing market.
The company estimated home deliveries will decline 20% in 2007 from the previous year.
The company said it saw a quarterly loss of $1.24 a share, compared with profit of $3.54 a share a year earlier, as the builder rode the tail end of the housing boom. For the quarter ended November 30, home-building revenue slipped to $4.1 billion from $4.87 billion.
The fourth-quarter loss had been expected. Earlier this month, Lennar warned it expected to post a quarterly loss and estimated between $400 million and $500 million worth of land-related charges.
Chief executive Stuart Miller in a statement Wednesday said market conditions remained "depressed" through the end of the fourth quarter.
"In this environment, we have continued to focus on strengthening our balance sheet," the CEO said. "We have continued to build out our inventory, deliver our backlog and convert inventory into cash."
Miller added the company will continue to build homes only where demand exists, and estimated home deliveries will fall 20% this year versus 2006, when Lennar delivered 49,568 homes.
