Local homebuilder stocks continued to bleed Wednesday on interest rate concerns.
Shares of Irvine-based Standard Pacific Corp. dipped 3.7% to $81.8 at close of trading Wednesday. Newport Beach’s William Lyon Homes Inc. fell 4.2% to $75.3.
Interest-rate sensitive stocks were hit Wednesday by the climbing yields on treasury bonds, which hit seven-month highs.
Homebuilder shares are sensitive to rate movements because consumers are less likely to buy homes when rates move higher. Rising oil prices and a sinking U.S. dollar have raised inflationary concerns.
Builder stocks began trading downward Tuesday on a lower-than-expected first quarter forecast from Calabasas-based Ryland Group Inc., one of the nation’s largest homebuilders.
Early this month William Lyon lowered its sales and profit forecast for 2005 by 10% to 15%. Its stock barely budged on the day of the announcement, suggesting investors had anticipated some pullback.
William Lyon’s stock is down from $90 on Monday. Standard Pacific was trading at $81 at the beginning of the week.
Homebuilders have seen huge runups in their stock prices in the past year amid a U.S. housing boom.
