(Read more on the multifamily market.)

HORSHAM, PA-Preliminary results for Toll Brothers Inc.'s fiscal fourth quarter portray a dismal housing picture that continues its downward spiral. The luxury homebuilder's revenues fell to $1.2 million, down 36% from the same quarter a year ago.

Net signed contracts for the quarter totaled 656 homes, a decline of 35% in units, which represented sales of $365.2 million, a 48% drop in dollars. Among gross contracts signed in the fourth quarter, the average price per unit was $646,000, compared with $667,000 in the fiscal third quarter of 2007. Among contracts that carried through to sales, however, the average price fell to a much lower $557,000 a unit.

That is a result of two factors: a concentration of cancellations in higher-price homes in high-price markets and a shift in the type of units sold. The multifamily proportion of sales rose, and multifamily units tend to be less expensive. In fiscal fourth quarter 2006, single-family units represented 59% of total sales, Robert Toll, president and CEO, said during a conference call. By contrast, in the most recent quarter, single-family accounted for just 49% of sales. While he expects this shift in the mix to continue into 2008, he called it short-term and said, "we're not shifting the nature of our business."