Small Builder Struggles Benefit Some Public Builders [Housing Tracker]

Homebuilder Trends

Housing Slump Spells Doom For Large Triad Builder Pierce Homes. “Pierce Homes of Carolina Inc., one of the Triad's largest home builders, is going out of business, citing the difficulties of the current housing market… Triangle-based Den-Mark Homes filed for bankruptcy protection in late April. Hampton Pitts, the longtime Raleigh division president for Centex Homes (CTX), resigned earlier this summer with the company struggling. Triangle Business Journal: Real estate companies owned by Virginia brothers Steve and Art Sandler, the developers of Wakefield and several other local communities, faced nearly $10 million in unpaid bills and that Comstock Homebuilding Cos. (CHCI) said it would stop making scheduled payments on 60% of its $157M in bank loans.” (Triangle Business Journal, Aug. 5^th)

Commercial Alliance Group Pays Investors Ahead of Schedule. “Commercial Alliance Group, a Central Florida real estate development and financial services firm, has made early distributions to its individual and institutional accredited investors in two private offerings. The early distributions are related to the company's positions in Central Florida real estate development projects. The projects include a moderately priced commercial/residential development in the Orlando suburb, Oviedo, FL and the Palm Coast Resort, a luxurious waterfront condominium resort in Palm Coast, FL.” (MarketWatch, Aug. 5^th)

Mare Island Is Generating Jobs, But At Slower-Than-Forecast Rate. “A recent snapshot of Mare Island’s economic health was presented by master developer Lennar Mare Island to the city as part of a bi-annual performance review… Lennar Mare Island outlined capital improvement investments, revenues and job growth on the island... The statistics are supposed to meet a performance schedule, first established in a 1999 Acquisition Agreement between the developer and the city. The agreement is non-binding, however, and has been adjusted in a generally downward direction 10 times since its inception. The review showed that island job creation and revenues took a recent downturn, while capital improvement progress is exceeding expectations.”  (Times Herald Online, Aug. 4^th)

BMHC to Close SelectBuild Florida Subsidiary. “Building Materials Holding Corp. announced today, Aug. 4, that it will close its SelectBuild Florida subsidiary over the next four months. The move, which affects roughly 140 employees at shell, truss, and stair operations, comes less than a week after the San Francisco-based firm revealed it has been discussing with its lenders a temporary waiver on minimum net worth and earnings standards. "In light of the challenging homebuilding environment, we recognize the need to realign our business across the country to reflect local conditions," Stanley M. Wilson, BMHC's president and CEO.” (Builder Online, Aug. 4^th)

MDC Holdings Inc. Q2 2008 Earnings Call Transcript. “Gary Reese, CFO: “In Colorado… there seems to be a little bit of life… It's still hard. It's a dogfight. We're seeing competition leave the market in droves, which is good for us because we are becoming more and more of a large player here as that occurs. So, we have some great subdivisions here, and some locations that are just opening and some that are about to open. And so, we feel very good about our position in this market.” (Seeking Alpha, July 31^st)

 

Seeking Alpha's Housing Tracker is a collection of housing-related excerpts from various sources, grouped by topic. Feel free to post any interesting links on the subject in the comments section below.

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