RSS Feed by Calculated Risk on 10/25/2012 04:17:00 PM
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Lawler: Home Builders: On Balance, Strong Results
From economist Tom Lawler:
Several publicly-traded home builders posted results for the quarter ended September 30th this week, and the general theme was strong net orders, slightly lower cancellation rates, higher margins/lower concessions, and higher home sales prices. Below are some summary stats.
Average sales prices, of course, don’t necessarily reflect gains in “constant-quality” homes, but are affected by changes in the type of homes sold and the regional mix of homes sold. Nevertheless, most home builders appear to be selling homes at “effective” prices well above a year ago.
The combined order backlog of the five builders on September 30th, 2012 was 17,907, up 42.2% from last September.
| New Orders | Settlements | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qtr. Ended: | 9/30/2012 | 9/30/2011 | % Chg | 9/30/2012 | 9/30/2011 | % Chg |
| PulteGroup | 4,544 | 3,564 | 27.5% | 4,418 | 4,198 | 5.2% |
| NVR | 2,558 | 2,218 | 15.3% | 2,656 | 2,255 | 17.8% |
| The Ryland Group | 1,507 | 1,008 | 49.5% | 1,322 | 1,015 | 30.2% |
| Meritage Homes | 1,204 | 906 | 32.9% | 1,197 | 840 | 42.5% |
| M/I Homes | 757 | 587 | 29.0% | 746 | 582 | 28.2% |
| Total | 10,570 | 8,283 | 27.6% | 10,339 | 8,890 | 16.3% |
| Average Closing Price | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Qtr. Ended: | 9/30/2012 | 9/30/2011 | % Chg |
| PulteGroup | $279,000 | $262,000 | 6.5% |
| NVR | $321,700 | $308,900 | 4.1% |
| The Ryland Group | $264,000 | $249,000 | 6.0% |
| Meritage Homes | $280,000 | $259,000 | 8.1% |
| M/I Homes | $266,000 | $238,000 | 11.8% |
| Total | $287,229 | $270,558 | 6.2% |
