Home Builders List

It’s no secret that housing has been a difficult area in the nation’s economic recovery. Home prices continue to be affected by high supply and foreclosures. April experienced new record low in sales of new homes.

Homebuilder Lennar Corporation saw a concerning 65% drop in profit in the second quarter of the fiscal year. Yet, despite declining home deliveries and orders, Lennar still did better than expected by helping itself in areas outside of homebuilding. Rialto, a Lennar division that invests in distressed real-estate, has done extremely well and is a major part of the reason Lennar expects to be profitable this year.

Here are some of Lennar Corp.’s numbers: For the quarter ending at the conclusion of May, the firm had a profit of almost $14 million down from near $40 million – this represents a drop of fourteen cents a share, from 21 to 7. Lennar’s revenue fell just over 6.1%.

Gross margin on home sales declined to under 20%, but this still remains among the top in the sector. Orders were less than hoped for and new-home deliveries fell to slightly under 8%.

The housing market is, no doubt, a very challenging one. There was no sign of a spring selling season; yet, Lennar Corp, was still able to perform well and experience a fifth consecutive profitable quarter. The results Lennar turned in were better than most could expect during the slowing housing climate.

Last year the amount of mortgage applications turned down by the nation’s largest banking institutions increased. This shows us how tighter lending standards implemented by banks after the nation’s mortgage collapse is impeding the chance for the housing market to improve.

The nation's largest banks are being accused of hampering the housing market by making the qualifications for home loans too strict.

The 10 largest mortgage lenders in the nation denied 26.8% of all mortgage loan applications in 2010. That figure is a 3.3% increase from the 23.5% denied by the same institutions the previous year, according to an analysis of mortgage data filed with banking regulators conducted by the Wall Street Journal.

Lenders were expected to tighten lending standards after the loose conditions that led to the inflation of he housing bubble, however, there is the argument to be made that – with the current state of our housing market – it should be easier for qualified buyers to obtain a mortgage rather than more difficult.

In part, loans are more difficult to obtain because entities such as Freddie Mac, and the Federal Housing Administration are being pressured to avoid more losses. When the companies combined account for 9 out 10 of the nation’s home mortgage loans, it becomes clear why obtaining a mortgage can be a difficult feat.

The percentage of denied mortgage applications has been higher in the past, even during the latest housing boom. During the height of the housing boom in 2007 the rejection rate was 32.5%. The percentage was so high because loan officers and brokers were testing to see just how loose the bank’s lending standard were.

Within the data analyzed by the Wall Street Journal were the percentages of both borrowers who wanted to refinance their homes and loan applications to purchase a home. The percentage of refinancing applications denied was 27.2% that was higher than the 24.4% denied the previous year. The percentage of loan applications to purchase a home that were denied was 19.9%, an increase from the 18.2% the previous year.

Banks argue that the tighter lending standards are a responsible move, as evidence, they show that the number of new homeowners with delinquent payments as decreased. According to the Federal Housing Finance Agency only 0.3% of mortgage loans backed the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2009 have had three consecutive missed payments. That percentage is down from the 2.6% recorded for 2000.