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 PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Toll Brothers Inc., the nation's largest builder of luxury homes, said Thursday that it expected its first-quarter home building revenue to fall by 19 percent, signaling that the housing market is likely to remain feeble in early 2007.
The Horsham-based builder also warned that writedowns are expected to balloon to between $60 million and $160 million or more just for the quarter. In December, Toll Brothers projected a $60 million, land-related writedown for the whole 2007 fiscal year.
"The (housing) market has just continued to deteriorate over the last few months," said Alex Barron, senior housing analyst for JMP Securities in San Francisco. "When a builder starts to cut prices or offer discounts where they no longer make money in the community, accounting rules say they have to recognize all the future expected losses."
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