Toll Brothers Suffers $96M Quarterly Loss

HORSHAM, PA-Losses continued to mount for Toll Brothers Inc. during the luxury homebuilder’s first fiscal quarter of 2008, which ended Jan. 31. The company generated a net loss of $96 million, compared with $54.3 million for the same quarter a year ago.

Revenues, backlog, signed contracts and the average home price all registered declines. Total revenues were $842.9 million, down 23% from the first fiscal quarter of 2007. The quarter-end backlog was $2.4 billion, 42% lower than the 2007 first-quarter backlog of nearly $4.2 billion.

Gross signed contracts for the most recent quarter totaled $573.1 million, down 46% from the same quarter of 2007. Contracts represented 904 homes, which is a 36%-decline versus the prior year quarter. The average price per unit was $634,000, down from $646,000 in the fourth quarter of 2007 and from $730,000 in the first quarter of 2007. The decline is attributed primarily to a shift in the mix, which now includes more condos than in previous quarters.