Newport Beach-based William Lyon Homes Inc. on Wednesday said first-quarter home orders in California and companywide were down.
The homebuilder saw a 33% drop in orders in California to 392.
Including the company’s operations in Arizona and Nevada, William Lyon saw a 26% drop in new home orders to 647, versus a year ago.
The drop in sales came even though the number of sales locations was up 26% to 48.
William Lyon said that the number of new home orders per average sales location decreased to 13.5 in the quarter, compared to 23 a year ago. The cancellation rate was 28%, compared to 12% a year ago.
There was one bright spot for William Lyon Homes: The number of homes closed in the first quarter increased 27% to 581.
The company currently has a backlog of 1,357 homes that have been sold, but not closed, down 14% from a year earlier.
It’s the second consecutive year-over-year quarterly drop for the homebuilder. William Lyon Homes reported a 7% fourth-quarter drop in new home orders to 460. That included a 12% decrease in California.
