Irvine’s California Coastal Communities Inc. is the latest homebuilder to lower sales expectations for the rest of 2006.
The company cited increased cancellations and a slowdown in the region’s housing market.
California Coastal expects to finish 150 to 175 homes in Southern California this year, compared to previous projections of more than 200 homes.
It completed 113 homes last year.
“The Southern California housing market has continued to soften,” said Raymond Pacini, chief executive of California Coastal.
A total of 28 homes were delivered in the first quarter. California Coastal finished homes in Riverside and San Bernardino counties, in Lancaster, part of northern Los Angeles County, and Rancho Santa Fe, in San Diego County.
The company also recently started initial work on its 105-acre Brightwater development in Bolsa Chica, following nearly 30 years of environmental fights over the Huntington Beach site.
California Coastal expects to begin building model homes at Brightwater during the fourth quarter. The company is building 356 homes there.
“We do not anticipate that current market conditions will have a significant impact on our Brightwater project given the site’s spectacular location, the extremely limited supply of new homes on the coast of Southern California and the absence of significant competition from other homebuilders in the Huntington Beach market,” Pacini said.
The update was part of California Coastal’s second-quarter earnings release.
The company reported a second-quarter profit of $1.2 million, versus a flat quarter a year earlier. Revenue was $18.8 million in the period, compared to $3.1 million a year earlier.
The average price of the company’s homes finished in the quarter fell to $671,000 from $775,000 a year ago.
The drop reflects sales of lower-priced homes in Lancaster, compared with homes in the Inland Empire it sold a year ago, the company said.
,Mark Mueller
