PulteGroup announces 10% jump in revenues, earnings up 32%

PulteGroup last quarter had revenues of $3.8 billion, a 10% jump from the same period a year ago, as the nation’s housing shortage promises to fuel more construction, the company announced Tuesday.

The Atlanta-based homebuilding giant reported a 32% bounce in earnings, an 11% increase in the number of homes sold, as well as a higher profit margin and a surge in the number of new orders for homes during the first three months of this year.

The report represents “outstanding financial results,” said Ryan Marshall, the company’s president and chief executive officer.

The 70-year old company currently lists homes for sale in 26 states under a variety of brands, including Del Webb, John Wieland Homes and Neighborhoods and American West. Its highest profits are in the Southeast and in Florida, executives said during a conference call with analysts and reporters.

In metro Atlanta, PulteGroup’s new neighborhoods include homes starting at $365,990 at Anderson Point in McDonough, for $461,990 at Pinebrook at Hamilton Mill in Auburn, and $648,504 at the Creek at Arthur Hills in Acworth. The homes range in size from two to seven bedrooms.

The average closing price for a PulteGroup home this past quarter was $538,000, said PulteGroup Chief Financial Officer Robert O’Shaughnessy.

The future is promising, Marshall said: The nation doesn’t have enough homes, the result of the years following the burst of the housing bubble and the 2007-09 recession in which many builders went bust and the surviving companies were cautious about committing to construction they weren’t guaranteed to sell.

With the economy growing solidly now, PulteGroup stands to gain from the need to catch up, perhaps garnering a higher percentage of the overall market, he said.

“After more than a decade of underbuilding, it is estimated that our country has a structural shortage of several million homes,” Marshall said. “We are well-positioned to expand our market share while helping to provide much-needed new housing stock.”

New home sales were up 8.8% in March from the level of a year ago, the strongest pace of construction since September, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

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