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Mon, May 19, 2008 04:41:29 PMFrom:
BIG BUILDER Newslink
Subject:
Starts, Permits Rise Unexpectedly
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Go to Public Builder Stock Update & Financial Links From Hanley Wood, the publisher of BIG BUILDER and BUILDER magazines and BIG BUILDER Online.
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From the Editor of BIG BUILDER Magazine
John McManus, Editor Borrower Beware * Item: Standard Pacific was said to be soliciting offers for a buyer in the past month or more, but as of last week, serious bids from strategic or financial players failed to emerge. * Item: A question in light of an imminently-expected filing for bankruptcy protection by the Landource joint venture partnership is whether Lennar will ante up to buy the MW Partners portion back and put the future-perfect Newhall Land expanse back on its balance sheet. * Item: As we haven't even begun to see banks' real estate losses tallied up and brought to market for re-pricing, home builders' consequential distress can only be described as in its early innings. Unrelated as these items may seem to be, the way they tie together has to do with the fact that credit and debt markets are closed and equity markets are open. If new-home building's darkest hour will come just before the dawn, then we've got some darker hours to go yet. Equity markets are open. Creative ownership structures will be all the rage, possibly keeping some good operators in business even if they've scraped the last of their cash reserves from the bottom of the petty cash till. Even if they're pre-mature, equity investors continue to pump capital into the big builder sector. To view the full editorial and leave a comment click here.
In the News This WeekStarts, Permits Rise UnexpectedlyHousing starts, led by strong gains in multi-family construction in the Midwest and West, rose 8.2% in April from March levels to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,032,000, the Commerce Department reported Friday. Starts, however, remained 30.6% below April 2007. (BB News) Complete articleLeading Indicators Show Slow EconomyThe Conference Board announced today that its leading economic index rose 0.1% in April, the same gain posted in March after a 0.3% decline in February. The leading index is considered a barometer of the U.S. economy for the next three to six months. (BB News) Complete articleAt the Blogs—Bubbles BustDr. Housing Bubble diagnoses the potential effects of the recent actions of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, including the removal of higher down payments in "declining markets"—which eliminates the safeguard against lending money in areas with declining home prices, despite the fact that the markets are deteriorating because people had gone in without putting skin in the game to begin with. For that story and more, check out Big Builder's bi-weekly roundup of the latest in opinion and commentary across the Web. (BB News) Complete article
Beazer Files Financial RestatementsJust in time to meet a May 15 deadline, Beazer Homes USA caught up with filing all the SEC-required financial documents it delayed while the company investigated accounting errors and irregularities. (BB News) Complete articleLampert Takes Stake in KB, CentexThere's a new billionaire investor on the public builder beat. Late last week, Edward S. Lampert, founder of. semi-namesake ESL Investments and chairman of Sears Holdings Corp., purchased a small interest in both Centex Corp. and KB Home. According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Lempart bought 747,600 shares of Centex and 605,000 shares of KB Home. (BB News) Complete articleLowe's Earnings Drop 18%Lowe's Cos., the nation's second biggest home improvement retailer, reported a 17.9 percent drop in first-quarter earnings and lowered its guidance for the year on Monday as the slumping U.S. housing market and softer economy hurt sales. Its shares fell more than 2.5 percent in morning trading. Complete article
Public Builder Stock Update and Financial Links
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