Andy Parnes, chief financial officer of Irvine-based home builder Standard Pacific Corp., said investors need to be more patient and not jump so quickly to conclusions, as the company’s stock fell 13 percent on liquidity concerns.

Bloomberg reports:

“We’re hearing they’re about to violate bank covenants,” said Joseph Saluzzi, co-head of equity trading at Themis Trading LLC in Chatham, New Jersey.

Standard Pacific said in a regulatory filing on Aug. 2 it was in compliance with financial covenants for the six month period ended June 30. Still, the company warned that it may violate some of covenants should it write down inventory or make additional investments in joint ventures.

Standard Pacific fell $1.63 to $10.56 in New York Stock Exchange trading, giving the company a market value of $685.8 million. During part of the day, it dropped 38 percent and touched $7.51.

Parnes, however, said the home builder is approaching bankers to work out a plan in case the company breaks a debt covenant. He said even if the builder breaks a covenant that doesn’t necessarily mean lenders would stop extending credit.

And he said Standard Pacific, as well as other builders including Centex Corp. and Beazer Homes USA Inc., have successfully amended debt agreements this year.

— Written by Mathew Padilla, host of Mortgage Insider.

National Multi Housing Council’s July version of its quarterly survey of large apartment owners nationwide found ….

Question #5: How has the subprime mortgage meltdown and the subsequent tightening of mortgage credit for home buyers affected renters in the markets you are familiar with?
• 18%: Been a big decrease in the number of renters leaving to become homeowners.
• 37%: Been a small decrease in the number of renters leaving to become homeowners.
• 46%: No impact so far.

The survey also found … “One quarter of respondents said that occupancy rates and/or rents rose during the first quarter of the year, but the majority (59 percent) reported no change.”

To read more, CLICK HERE

(Contributed by Register staff writer Mary Ann Milbourn)

California Coastal Communities Inc. is the latest Orange County homebuilder to get hit by the slowing housing market. The Irvine-based company reported a $400,000 net loss in the second quarter compared to a $1.2 million profit for the same period last year.

The list of second-quarter horribles included:
• Revenues: $4.2 million, down 78 percent from the second quarter of 2006.
• Net new orders: 11 homes, down 31 percent from 16 in the second quarter of 2006.
• Average sales price: $466,700, down from $671,000 in second quarter 2006.

Coastal, which fought three decades to win approval for its Bolsa Chica project, is pushing forward on the 356-home Brightwater development as fast as it can. The company said it accepted sales reservations and deposits from 12 buyers for the first phase of homes even though the public grand opening isn’t until Saturday.

The picture for its developments in the Inland Empire and Lancaster, however, isn’t so rosy. Here’s how CEO Raymond J. Pacini put it:

“The housing market in the Inland Empire and Lancaster continues to be very challenging. We generated orders for 11 homes during the quarter, which reflects continuing weakness in the inland housing market, increasing supply of new and resale homes on the market, and competition from large national homebuilders who continue to significantly discount their prices and increase incentives in order to reduce inventories. We expect that these difficult conditions in our inland markets will continue through 2008 or 2009.”

For the full release, CLICK HERE

New DataQuick stats suggest that O.C. real estate looks almost peachy vs. two of our ‘local’ competitors in the Southwest: Phoenix and Vegas. Those two once-hot markets are also cooling. Here’s a look these two towns’ median selling prices and closed sales totals for June:

• DQ on Phoenix: “… area home sales downshifted again in June to the slowest pace in a decade. As demand slackened, the median sale price fell short of the year-ago level for the fifth consecutive month.”

• DQ on Vegas: “… region’s housing downturn intensified in June as home sales dropped to a nine-year low and the median sale price fell on a year-over-year basis for the second consecutive month.”