Home Builders Opt for Mothballing

[Joseph Burkeson, CMI]

Home Builders Opt for Mothballing

By Michael Corkery

Word Count: 1,160 | Companies Featured in This Article: Lennar, Hovnanian Enterprises, Standard Pacific, Toll Brothers, Barclays

As the glut of unsold home remains stubbornly high and housing demand slides, home builders face a dilemma: to sell, or not to sell?
Lennar Corp., for one, has joined the "not to sell" camp at its development in Orange County, Calif. The Miami company plans to finish building 259 homes -- the first phase of a 1,100-unit development in Irvine -- but it has decided not to sell any of them until the constrained mortgage market and swollen housing inventory improves.

[Stephen W. Stanczyk]

I do 100+ draw inspections per month. The latest find is that builders have pulled back the number of starts. There have been some instances where lots that were previously graded with forms set out have had the forms removed and the lots returned to pre-graded condition so the loan is not officially started. They are just going to wait it out and hope the spring and summer bring out the buyers.

The last I heard, one major builder in the western side of Washington state is sitting on an inventory of over 800 completed homes. Prices have been dropped as much as $25k on some of them.