From Reuters:

Luxury home builder Toll Brothers (TOL.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) swung to a third-quarter net loss, hurt by write-downs and weakened demand in most markets amid the nation’s housing slump, and forecast sequentially lower revenue in the fourth quarter on higher costs.

The largest U.S. luxury home builder reported a net loss of $29.3 million, or 18 cents a share, compared with a net profit of $26.5 million, or 16 cents a share, a year earlier.

Excluding write-downs for operating communities, land and land options, and joint ventures, the company earned 35 cents a share.

Total revenue fell 34 percent to $797.7 million.

Analysts on average had expected a loss of 36 cents a share, before special items, on revenue of 765.3 million, according to Reuters Estimates.

Net contracts in the quarter totaled 812 homes, or $469.9 million, which was lower by 27 percent in units and 35 percent in dollars compared with the year-ago period.

In an industry that has been struggling for almost two years in conditions which make the business model almost impossible, Toll Brothers becomes only the latest homebuilder to report yet another quarterly loss. 

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