Home builders battle to survive – Los Angeles Times

he Ryland loss followed a report earlier this week that June housing starts were down 44% in California from a year earlier. “It’s very bad, the worst I’ve seen,” said Mick Pattinson, a 32-year industry veteran and chief executive of Barratt American, a private builder based in Carlsbad. “It’s impossible to build anything today at a profit, so builders are either taking losses or have pretty much stopped building,” he said.

Pattinson said his company, which builds in San Diego County and the Inland Empire, is down to 40 employees, from a high of 140.

“We’re trying to stay alive,” said Pattinson, whose company is scraping by with reconstruction work in fire-damaged parts of San Diego and a few custom home orders.

In addition to the 44% decline in housing starts last month, the California Building Industry Assn. said its latest figures on new-home sales showed a 51% drop-off in May from a year earlier.

Hopes for a recovery “have fallen apart” and that is “going to make the rest of 2008 a rocky ride for home builders,” said Jonathan Dienhart, research director of Hanley Wood Market Intelligence, which prepared the builders group’s report.