Although new home sales so far this year have been off substantially from a year ago, several large public builders have managed to boost their sales, according to Hanley Wood Market Intelligence.
At Richmond American, the Denver-based division of MDC Holdings with operations in 10 states, closings are up 15% in the first six months, while D.R. Horton of Ft. Worth, active in 28 states, recorded a 7% sales gain, the Costa Mesa, Calif.-based independent research firm reported.
M/I Homes, based in Columbus, Ohio and active in eight states, netted a 6% jump in sales. Florida's Lennar (17 states) and Virginia's NVR (11 states) each had 1 percent gains.
But not all big builders are doing as well. According to HWMI, both Ryland Homes, based in Calabasas, Calif. (15 states), and KB Homes, based in Los Angeles (11 states), saw their sales drop 3% in the first half of 2010.
Several of these builders including Ryland, D.R. Horton, and NVR have mortgage banking affiliates that fund loans to their homebuying customers.
