KB Home sounds optimistic note

US house builder KB Home has reported revenues of US$ 1.82 billion for the year ending 30 November, a -39.7% decline on 2008. The company made a net loss of US$ 102 million, compared to last year's loss of US$ 976 billion.

The company said there were some signs of improvement in the fourth quarter, with its fall in revenues slowing. Sales for the three-month period came to US$ 675 million, down -27% on the same period in 2008. The company also made a net profit for the period of US$ 101 million, compared to a loss in the final quarter of 2008 of US$ 307 million.

President & CEO Jeffrey Mezger said, "KB Home's 2009 fiscal year culminated with a solid fourth quarter performance."

Mr Mezger also sounded a note of cautious optimism for this year. "Looking forward into 2010 there are indications that housing market conditions may be stabilising in some regions, reflecting, among other things, relatively high levels of affordability. This is tempered, however, and could ultimately be undermined, by persistent economic weakness and unemployment, changes in federal government monetary and fiscal policies and programmes," he said.

Last year KB Home was ranked no. 123 in iC's league table of the world's largest construction companies. At the peak of the US residential construction boom, the 2006 edition of the same league table saw KB Home ranked at no. 26, reflecting the crash in US house building in the intervening years.