D.R. Horton records a first-quarter loss

D.R. Horton, one of the nation’s largest home builders, has recorded a loss of $1.31 billion in the first quarter, a dramatic swing from earnings of $51.7 million just one year earlier.

Revenue dropped 36.5 percent to $1.6 billion from $2.52 billion in the same period last year.

In the past six months, the company has been hit by $1.1 billion in inventory impairments and write-offs, in large part due to lower real estate values and canceled land option contracts.

The company's backlog of homes as of March 31 was 8,947 units worth $2.1 billion, again a steep decline from the backlog of 16,885 homes, worth $4.8 billion, recorded at the same time last year. Net sales orders for the second quarter were 7,528 homes, down from 9,983 homes last year.

"Although market conditions in the home-building industry remain challenging, we continue to focus on reducing inventory and generating cash flow from operations,” said Donald Horton, chairman and CEO. “We reduced our homes in residential inventory ... [and] we also maintained our focus on controlling our costs.”

Based in Fort Worth, Texas, D.R. Horton has operations in 27 states