Sales may be down, starts may be off, but the nation's privately-held home builders still managed to eke out a profit last year.
According to the latest data from Sageworks, a financial analysis firm, the net profit margins of private builders doubled in 2010 from 2.48% the year before to 5.22% last year. Sales were down just 2.3 percent last year, but that's not nearly as large a drop as the 11.6% decline registered last year.
Privately-owned commercial building companies didn't do nearly as well, the Raleigh-based Sageworks also reported. Their sales were down 13.8% last year, a decline that was greater than the 10.3% decline recorded in 2009. Nevertheless, non-res builders still managed a net profit of 0.8%.
There are more than a million construction companies in the United States, the majority of which are privately-held.
