Toll Brothers Inc.'s fiscal second-quarter loss narrowed, and the luxury homebuilder said it believes a recovery in the housing market is underway.

Toll Brothers reported a loss of $40.4 million for the quarter ended April 30 compared with a loss of $83.2 million a year earlier. Excluding pretax write-downs of $42.3 million, Toll posted a pretax loss of $9.5 million for the quarter. Revenue fell 22% to $311.3 million.
“It appears our business has finally emerged from the tunnel and into a bit of daylight,” said Founder and Chief Executive Robert I. Toll.
“We believe many markets are turning the corner, and housing in general is beginning its recovery.” However, he cautioned that with high unemployment and volatility in the financial markets, saying “we don't expect housing to roar back right away.”
While staying on as executive chairman, Mr. Toll is set to turn the CEO title over to insider Doug Yearley next month.
The company's home deliveries were down 16% on a unit basis in the second quarter, while net signed contracts rose 41% to 820 units. The cancellation rate fell to 5.3% from 21.7% a year earlier.
(Source: The WSJ)