Lennar posts $88.2 million loss in first quarter

Lennar, the Miami-based national home builder, reported a net loss of $88.2 million for its first quarter, which ended on Feb. 29, 2008. This compares to earnings of $68.6 million for the same period in 2007.

Revenues from home sales decreased 64 percent to $953.1 million in the first quarter from $2.6 billion a year ago. There was a 60 percent decrease in the number of deliveries in the quarter and an 8 percent decrease in the average sale price of homes.

Market conditions continued to deteriorate throughout the first quarter of 2008, according to Stuart Miller, Lennar’s president and CEO.

“Home inventories have been expanding due to the high number of foreclosures, negotiated ‘short sales’ and stretched homeowners looking to sell homes they can no longer afford,” Miller said in a prepared statement. “While sales are occurring and clearing prices are being reached, the pace of overall housing inventory growth is exceeding absorption at the current time."