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HORSHAM, PA-The value of signed contracts for locally based TollBrothers Inc.'s luxury homes fell 45% to below $1.1 billion in thecompany's fiscal third quarter, compared with slightly above $1.9billion for the same quarter a year ago. During a conference call,Robert Toll, president and CEO, called the slowdown, "somewhatunique," and attributed it to an "oversupply of inventory and adecline in confidence.

"This is the first downturn in the 40 years since we've been inbusiness that was not precipitated by high interest rates, a weakeconomy, job losses or other macroeconomic factors," he said."Speculative buyers who spurred demand in 2004 and 2005 are nowsellers; builders that built speculative homes must now move theirspecs, and nervous buyers are canceling homes already underconstruction."