Toll Brothers Is Seeing Signs of Hope for Housing Market

Wall Street Journal (08/14/08) P. B4; Benoit, David
Although Toll Brothers Inc. reports weak results in its fiscal third quarter ended in July, CEO Robert Toll says a drop in cancellations to 19.4 percent from 23.8 percent is evidence of "growing pent-up demand" among buyers who have been sitting on the fence since 2005. The company posted a 34-percent drop in revenue to $796.5 million, a 27-percent decline in signed contracts and a 35-percent decrease in the value of signed contracts to $469.7 million. Additionally, Toll Brothers recorded a 48-percent drop in its backlog during the quarter to $1.75 billion and a 47-percent decline in land holdings over the past two years to 48,500 lots. The report also shows pretax, land-related write downs of $100 million to $200 million.