Lennar reports 11% bump in Q4 earnings

Miami-based Lennar Corp. reported a 11.3 percent boost in earnings for the fourth quarter of 2016, and 13.5 percent for the year, marking another sign of the recovering housing market.

Fourth quarter net earnings for the country’s second biggest homebuilder (after D.R. Horton) in 2016 were $313.5 million, or $1.34 per share, compared to $281.6 million or $1.21 per share, in the fourth quarter of 2015. For the company’s fiscal year ending Nov. 30, Lennar earned $911.8 million, or $3.93 per share, compared to $802.9 million for the same period in 2015 – a 13.5 percent increase year-to-year.

In 2016, Lennar delivered 26,563 homes and signed new orders for 27,372 homes, both up 9 percent from last year. Revenues totaled $10.9 billion, which marks a 16 percent increase from last year.

Lennar CEO Stuart Miller cited the housing market’s “slow and steady recovery” following the 2007 housing crisis and the president-elect’s focus on “accelerating economic growth” as reasons for the company’s growth in recent years and going into 2017, despite the expected rise of interest rates.

Home prices are still rising, especially in South Florida, and U.S. builder confidence in single-family homes hit an all-time high in December, reaching the highest level seen in more than a decade.

In September, Lennar announced it was acquiring WCI Communities in a merger valued at $643 million. – Katherine Kallergis