Lennar finally tips to black

Miami-based Lennar, the country’s third-largest home builder, notched its first quarterly profit since the start of 2007, thanks to a tax benefit and massive cost-cutting. Lennar earned 19 cents a share, swinging from a loss of $5.12 a share a year ago. That beat Wall Street consensus estimates, which forecast a loss of 74 cents a share. Lennar’s business is concentrated in states hit hardest by the housing crunch, including Florida, California, Las Vegas and Arizona. High inventory has put a brake on building; the Mortgage Bankers Association said 14.4 percent of U.S. home mortgages were delinquent or in the foreclosure pipeline by the end of the quarter completed Sept. 30. That’s the highest rate on record since the Washington-based group began its survey in 1972. [Miami Herald]