Centex Corp. and KB Home this week said they would report poor quarterly results due to a slumping U.S. housing market that forced them to write down a combined $793 million in losses.
Centex, the nation's third-largest home builder, will book $450 million in the fiscal third quarter to reflect reduced land values and to abandon options to buy property, the Dallas-based company said. Centex was Southern Nevada's eighth biggest in 2005, recording 1,154 new home sales valleywide.L.A.-based KB Home, meanhwile, announced that it will take $343 million in property charges in the fiscal fourth quarter. The builder was the Las Vegas Valley's largest builder in 2005 with 3,936 new home sales. Home construction companies are canceling contracts and taking impairment expenses for their property holdings after facing the worst housing market in 15 years. Nationwide sales of new houses tumbled 18 percent in 2006 to 1.05 million, the biggest contraction since 1990. Shares of Centex fell $1.55, or 2.9%, to $51.61. Shares of KB Home eased 13 cents to $49.22.
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