A management consolidation plan at PulteGroup, the country’s second largest home builder in terms of annual sales, has resulted in the termination of as many as 10 executive contracts, though a decision on a total number of layoffs has not yet been reached, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Pulte has been struggling since it acquired Texas’ Centax for $1.3 billion in 2009 and has only had one profitable quarter since. It has $1 billion in charges related to the purchase. The company also lost $40 million last quarter. [more]

Pulte Homes has been ranked as a top home builder in a study of environmentally friendly home building practices by Calvert Investments. Calvert analyzed the green building practices of the top 10 largest publicly traded home building companies in the nation and examined the policies and procedures of each builder under the four key areas of energy use, building material use, water use, and land use and conservation of open space and habitat. [more]

Home builders stand to gain hundreds of millions of dollars in refunds on taxes from up to five years ago as a result of the new tax break for businesses that President Barack Obama signed into law Friday. The tax break, part of the package that included an extension of the first-time homebuyer tax credit and unemployment benefits, could grant big builders like Michigan-based Pulte Homes up to $450 million in tax refunds. Miami-based Lennar Corp. expects to receive between $200 million and $300 million. While such companies lobbied extensively for the refunds, many of those large builders have, in the meantime, built up large cash reserves by selling assets and hoarding cash in the immediate wake of the housing crash. Now, the top 10 builders have an average of $1.2 billion cash, up from the $616 million they had in 2007, according to JPMorgan. The tax break is like “giving them free money” at this point, said Rob Stevenson, a real estate analyst with investment bank Fox-Pitt Kelton. The larger impact of the law will be felt amongst smaller, private builders who might otherwise have shuttered, said Bill Killmer, vice president of advocacy at the National Association of Home Builders.

[WSJ]

The nation’s largest home builder, Pulte Homes, saw a $361.4 million loss in the third quarter, according to a report released today. The quarter was full of ups and downs for Pulte, which saw its volume of new orders jump by more than a third as it acquired Centex Corp, an acquisition that netted it the spot as largest U.S. home builder. As the two groups join forces, the Associated Press reported, Pulte could save big bucks — the company estimates around $440 million a year. Richard Dugas, president and CEO of Pulte, said that the merger could help the groups’ financials in the near future. “The rationale (behind the merger) has only grown more compelling in the months since the announcement,” Dugas said.