CEO Richard Dugas

KB Home, Pulte, MDC and Toll Brothers Rise on Upgrade, Analyst Says Home Prices Improving NEW YORK (AP) -- Shares of four home builders rose in premarket electronic trading Tuesday after an upgrade from a Banc of America analyst, who said the stocks will rise because lower home prices will lead to increased demand.Daniel Oppenheim upgraded shares of KB Home, MDC Holdings Inc. and Pulte Homes Inc. to "Buy" from "Neutral," and raised Toll Brothers Inc. stock to "Neutral" from "Sell." He said... Read Full Story

Dec. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Look at almost any major homebuilder's balance sheet these days, and it practically screams at you: ``Don't believe Mr. Market. Trust me!'' Either homebuilders as a class are grossly undervalued, or their assets are worth much less than their financial statements say. Odds are it's the latter. Home prices still show no sign of bottoming. And next month may bring lots of new confessions, when most of the companies report year-end earnings... Read Full Story

Standard & Poor's Ratings Service has reduced its corporate credit ratings on five national home builders that have a major presence in the Charlotte region.Production builders Centex Corp., D.R. Horton Inc., Lennar Corp., Pulte Homes Inc. and Standard Pacific Corp. were downgraded by S&P on Friday.The outlook for all five companies is negative, an indicator that a future rate cut is expected.The negative review further underscores weaknesses in the U.S. housing market. In October, a report... Read Full Story

I am soooooooooo glad I sold my house in 2005 and invested some of my profit in the equity market, 200% GAIN SO FAR. Now I have tons of house to choose from at much lower price. Of course we have not hit the housing crash bottom yet so it does not make sense to buy even if they cut the price now. It will be much cheaper a year or two from now. Now the builder have realized the same and are cutting price, too little too late in my opinion. Nation's third-largest home builder has lost more... Read Full Story

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