He cited metro Washington, DC in particular as one of several markets, "that are sound economically but will need to work through their excess supply before the imbalance once again tips in our favor." As for his own company, he added, "sales remain constrained at the many communities we have with backlogs of 12 months or more. We are optimistic that as these backlogs are reduced and new communities are opened, sales should improve."
For the quarter ended Jan. 31, net income for the locally based national homebuilder rose 49% to $163.9 million and revenues were up 35% to nearly $1.4 billion, compared with the same quarter the previous year. For the most recent quarter, the company's backlog rose 22% to almost $6 billion, but signed contracts declined 21% to just above $1.1 billion.
It is on the basis of this data and precautionary signals Toll has been announcing since late 2005 that the company reduced its sales expectations by 300 homes for this year. Its 2006 guidance now calls for sales of between 9,200 and 9,900 new homes this year. While lower than anticipated at midyear 2005, the current 2006 projection exceeds the 8,769 homes sold by Toll in fiscal '05.
© Touchpoint Markets, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to asset-and-logo-licensing@alm.com. For more inforrmation visit Asset & Logo Licensing.