Lennar Reports Big Turnaround in May as Homebuilding Demand Returns
The U.S. Commerce Department just reported disappointing housing starts for the month of May. Starts rose modestly, to 974,000, which was up only 4% compared to April and was down 23% compared to a year ago. Despite the overall disappointing number, some builders experienced a substantial rebound during May. One such builder was Lennar (NYSE: LEN), which reported May sales were up month over month and year over year. Granted, sales and starts are different metrics, but things look better in the housing market than the weak housing number suggests.
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Despite the modest uptick in May housing starts, things completely turned around for Lennar during May. Essentially, from mid-March through April, the industry went through an acute slowdown, but things started accelerating in May, and June activity is even better. On the earnings conference call, CEO Rick Beckwitt described the change:
Source Fool.com
