NEW YORK, Feb 9 (Reuters) – Pulte Homes Inc <PHM.N>, the largest U.S. builder, reported a bigger-than-expected fourth-quarter loss as it took a writeoff from its acquisition of Centex Corp, sending its shares lower.

The Bloomfield Hills, Michigan-based company, which has operations in 29 states, said results were roughly break-even, excluding one-time charges and benefits.

But many peers, including Lennar Corp <LEN.N> and KB Home <KBH.N>, managed to post profits in their most recent quarters due to tax benefits generated after the extension of a federal law that allows them to apply losses to prior income.

Pulte’s results included $800 million in such benefits. They did not, however, fully compensate for $925 million in charges, such as a $563 million goodwill writeoff from the August purchase of Centex for $1.3 billion in stock. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

NEW YORK, Feb 8 (Reuters) – Less than two months out of bankruptcy, a small homebuilder says it is entertaining acquisition offers — which could mean its bigger rivals are facing a shortage of land.

Half of the 10 largest U.S. builders have expressed interested in buying Woodside Homes outright or in purchasing some of its land, said Chief Executive Officer Joel Shine.

Shine, who would not name the interested parties, said neither Woodside nor its lots are not for sale. The company was the 20th-largest builder in 2008.

“The big publics have a problem,” Shine said. “They have been focusing on generating cash, but at one point you wake up and realize you have a lot of cash and no land to build homes on.”

NEW YORK, Feb 8 (Reuters) – Less than two months out of bankruptcy, a small homebuilder says it is entertaining acquisition offers — which could mean its bigger rivals are facing a shortage of land.

Half of the 10 largest U.S. builders have expressed interested in buying Woodside Homes outright or in purchasing some of its land, said Chief Executive Officer Joel Shine.

Shine, who would not name the interested parties, said neither Woodside nor its lots are not for sale. The company was the 20th-largest builder in 2008.

“The big publics have a problem,” Shine said. “They have been focusing on generating cash, but at one point you wake up and realize you have a lot of cash and no land to build homes on.”

NEW YORK (Reuters) – United Parcel Service Inc <UPS.N> gave a 2010 earnings forecast that pleased Wall Street, saying a recovery was underway in many regions, but it expects the U.S. market to lag.

The world’s largest package delivery service, which reported quarterly results on Tuesday, said the current quarter would be the year’s most challenging.

The company’s stock rose as much as 2.7 percent before settling at a 1 percent increase.

“As we look out over 2010, we see a story of a gradually firming economy,” Chief Financial Officer Kurt Kuehn said during a conference call with analysts, adding that Asia was leading the recovery.

NEW YORK, Feb 2 (Reuters) – United Parcel Service Inc <UPS.N> gave a 2010 earnings forecast that pleased Wall Street, saying a recovery was underway in many regions, but it expects the U.S. market to lag.

The world’s largest package delivery service, which reported quarterly results on Tuesday, said the current quarter would be the year’s most challenging.

The company’s stock rose as much as 2.7 percent before settling at a 1 percent increase.

“As we look out over 2010, we see a story of a gradually firming economy,” Chief Financial Officer Kurt Kuehn said during a conference call with analysts, adding that Asia was leading the recovery.

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) – For the first time, homebuilding’s annual trade show is giving attendees access to cold hard cash and not just seminars and swag.

The National Association of Home Builders, which runs the International Builders’ Show held here this week, is using it to connect its members to alternative funding sources beyond banks, the builders’ traditional backers.

Convinced that builders can no longer rely solely on banks, so badly burned were they by the housing downturn, the NAHB has made its “Partnership Pavilion” a major focus of the show. By Thursday, the pavilion will have hosted about 200 meetings between cash-strapped builders and deep-pocketed lenders, including Bank of America <BAC.N> and Royal Bank of Canada <RY.TO>.

Lenders say some deals might emerge from the pavilion, but not many. That means market share gains for the big public players as more smaller rivals fail for lack of financial backing before the housing market recovers.

LAS VEGAS, Jan 20 (Reuters) – For the first time, homebuilding’s annual trade show is giving attendees access to cold hard cash and not just seminars and swag.

The National Association of Home Builders, which runs the International Builders’ Show held here this week, is using it to connect its members to alternative funding sources beyond banks, the builders’ traditional backers.

Convinced that builders can no longer rely solely on banks, so badly burned were they by the housing downturn, the NAHB has made its “Partnership Pavilion” a major focus of the show. By Thursday, the pavilion will have hosted about 200 meetings between cash-strapped builders and deep-pocketed lenders, including Bank of America <BAC.N> and Royal Bank of Canada <RY.TO>.

Lenders say some deals might emerge from the pavilion, but not many. That means market share gains for the big public players as more smaller rivals fail for lack of financial backing before the housing market recovers.

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) – People just starting to consider retirement are less optimistic about their ability to stop working than older people, but many still want to move when they reach traditional retirement age, according to a survey commissioned by homebuilder Pulte Homes Inc.

Of those who turn 50 this year, 41 percent say they will never be financially capable of retiring and 23 percent have not even started to save, Pulte revealed at the International Builders’ Show, homebuilding’s annual industry event, held here this week.

The study compared attitudes toward retirement by older and younger baby boomers, the massive age cohort born between 1946 and 1964 whose sheer size makes it a prize demographic across industries.

Pulte’s Del Webb subsidiary, which builds amenity-heavy communities featuring golf courses and swimming pools for the market aged 55 or older, is homebuilding’s biggest “active adult” business with operations in 21 states.

LAS VEGAS, Jan 19 (Reuters) – The homebuilding industry’s biggest trade show meets this week, but most of its biggest executives will not be there.

The International Builders’ Show, happening this week in Las Vegas, is the marquee event of the homebuilding industry, equivalent to the Consumer Electronic Show for technology or Fashion Week for retailers.

It will attract about 55,000 builders, contractors and other industry professionals to a maze of booths and exhibits featuring more than 1,000 companies selling everything from skylights to stoves.

But the star power that lit the scene in the past has dimmed. Leaders of many of the industry’s household names, such as Pulte Homes Inc <PHM.N>, Toll Brothers Inc <TOL.N> and Lennar Corp <LEN.N>, will skip the show, although some will send lower-ranking executives.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Convinced that banks will reject homebuilders’ loan applications for years to come, the builders’ industry association is playing matchmaker to connect members with private equity firms.

To ramp up the bonding, the National Association of Home Builders plans to launch this initiative at a kind of blind “speed dating” forum at its annual convention in January.

Even as stabilizing prices and an increase in land deals signal a nascent housing market recovery, the NAHB is urging members to think for the first time beyond the banks. The industry’s traditional partners, conventional banks, were so badly burned by the downturn that builders cannot count on them for the foreseeable future, according to the association.

“This recession sets a new paradigm,” NAHB Chief Executive Jerry Howard told Reuters in an interview. “It’s not like past downturns where family-owned homebuilding concerns going back three generations could go back to their local bank. Our members’ biggest complaint is their lack of access to capital.”