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I am not sure what to believe anymore when reading the new housing sectors earning reports. On one side we have the marketers  and the optimists who are telling us that the turn around is happening and to be excited about the prospects for the future. Yet, in the next breathe they are saying that earnings missed expectations and that sales prices are down.

If I could read between the lines, Lennar’s earnings announcement looks like this. The good news is that sales were up slightly and that we had to offer less incentives. The bad news is that we cut home prices significantly to get any sales at all and our incentives are still astronomical historically. Oh, and we are losing more shareholders money that we expected in the process.

I have no problem with Lennar or their announcement, they have to put lipstick on the pig. But the price-points they are selling at now are those that have been greatly aided by the $8,000 new homebuyers credit and that, I hate to say, is going away.

I still see tough sledding in the coming year for new home builders.

OH, and new homebuyers, haggle like a fish merchant. There is a bunch of money on the table with new home sellers. The earnings reports prove it.

The company sold 2,691 homes, down 29 percent from year-ago levels. The average sales price was $239,000, down 11 percent, but stronger demand allowed Lennar to reduce the incentives it offered homebuyers to $42,200 per home, down from $45,900 a year ago, and markedly better than the $52,600 in offered during the second fiscal quarter.

The company reported Monday that it lost $171.6 million, or 97 cents per share, in the three months ended in August. That includes 76 cents per share in write-downs and tax adjustments, and compares with a loss of $89 million, or 56 cents per share, a year earlier. ajc.com.

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