Newport Beach-based William Lyon Homes Inc. continued its slide with first-quarter results, though a onetime tax change helped the homebuilder report a narrower loss from a year earlier.
For the quarter, William Lyon Homes reported a net loss of $806,000, down from a $26.5 million loss a year earlier. A tax benefit related to a change in the company’s corporate status drove the lower loss.
But William Lyon Homes posted an operating loss of $39 million, versus an operating profit of $4.6 million a year earlier.
A slew of other quarterly indicators were down as William Lyon Homes weathers the slumping housing market:
Revenue was down 33% to $137.4 million.
New home orders, or contracts to buy a William Lyon home, were down 45% to 371.
New home deliveries, or closed contracts to buy a home, were down 28% to 303.
Homebuilding gross profits were off 86% to $4.9 million, while the company’s homebuilding gross margin percentage of 4.4% was down from 18% a year earlier.
William Lyon Homes also took a $25.2 million charge on lowered values of homes and land it owns. A year ago, the company’s writedown was $3.5 million.
“Depressed market conditions in the housing industry” drove the larger writedown, the company said.
During the first quarter, the average sales price of a William Lyon home was $372,000, down 19% from $457,700 a year earlier.
William Lyon Homes went private in 2006 but still reports financial results for the benefit of debt holders.
