ATLANTA - Homebuilder Beazer Homes USA said Friday that it will no longer originate mortgages and will offer its buyers mortgage services through Countrywide Financial Corp.
The Atlanta-based company also released preliminary first-quarter operating data and said it will stop building homes in several communities.
Beazer will pull out of Charlotte, N.C.; areas around Cincinnati, Columbus and Dayton, Ohio; Columbia, S.C.; and Lexington, Ky. A timetable for the exits from those markets was not specified.
As of June 30, roughly 5 percent of the company's home building assets were invested in those markets.
As for its financials, Beazer Homes said it expects its results for the first quarter of fiscal 2008 to include material charges to abandon land option contracts and to recognize inventory impairments. It did not quantify the amounts because of plans to restate results from prior years.
The company also reiterated that home closings for its quarter ended Dec. 31 totaled 2,010, a 24 percent decline from the same period in the prior fiscal year. Net new home orders totaled 1,260, a decline of 29 percent from the prior fiscal year. The company saw a 46 percent cancellation rate in the quarter.
Beazer has been beset by turmoil in the housing industry that has caused its number of home closings to plunge. It cut 650 jobs, or 25 percent of its work force, in October.
By HARRY R. WEBER, The Associated Press
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment