Housing Giants - May 23, 2008 - (Page 22)

bottom half of this group. Easy access to capital allowed public builders to buy more land — not a good thing when sales dive and home prices plunge. And builders with national operations are still groping for an end to that downward spiral in most parts of the country. Of the Top 25, 23 lost ground in revenues — 12 by more than 30 percent, two by more than 40 percent. Only one builder in the Top 5 — Dallasbased No. 3 Centex Corp. — sports an income statement showing a profit, and it’s only 1.8 percent. Three show losses in excess of 20 percent (see EBIT margin graph at right). Still, the Top 25 rankings are remarkably stable, especially in comparison to the chaos in the rest of the Giant 400, in which 86 builders dropped by 20 or more positions and 108 rose an equal amount. Seven firms in the Top 25 stayed at the same rank. Eight moved up or down by only one slot, five by only two. For the most part, they were all caught in the same sinkhole. Fort Worth, Texas-based D.R. Horton, for example, rose one position to No. 1, beating out former No. 1 Lennar Corp. of Miami, even though Horton’s revenues fell 34.1 percent (to $9.57 billion) and closings dropped from a record 53,410 in 2006 to 37,717 in 2007. Horton has cut its workforce by 60 percent since the market peak in 2005. WHO’S MOVING MOST? The real movers in the Top 25 — Atlantabased Trammell Crow Residential and Phoenix’s Alliance Residential — are both rental apartment builders. They are the only two companies in the group to show an increase in both revenues and unit production in 2007. The whole rental sector is rising. Trammell Crow moved up seven spots to No. 16 thanks to a 38.5 percent jump in 2007 units (to 11,128) and 32.3 percent increase in revenues (to $1.93 billion). Alliance rocketed up 14 slots to No. 23 on the strength of a 67.2 percent increase in units (to 7,022) and 26.6 percent rise in revenues (to $1.08 billion). Taylor Morrison, the Bradenton, Fla.based subsidiary of British public giant Taylor Wimpey, jumped four spots to No. 13 when the parent merged its two North American home building firms — Taylor Woodrow and Morrison Homes (previously Nos. 17 and 24 respectively). “We didn’t 22 HOUSING GIANTS.5.23.08 WWW.HOUSINGGIANTS.COM http://www.tcresidential.com/ http://www.allresco.com/# http://www.centex.com/ http://www.housingzone.com/probuilder/index.asp?layout=giants http://www.taylormorrison.com/ http://www.taylorwimpey.com/home http://www.drhorton.com/ http://www.lennar.com/ http://WWW.HOUSINGGIANTS.COM

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Housing Giants - May 23, 2008 Contents Viewpoint & Letters News & Moves Process The Top 25

Housing Giants - May 23, 2008

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