New year, new homes, same old story

If one thing is certain in the new year, it's uncertainty in the housing market. Take new homes for instance. Lennar, one of the nation's largest home builders, warned that it has "not yet seen tangible evidence of a market recovery." While we are hopeful that low interest rates, strong employment and a healthy economy will help stimulate a recovery in 2007, we have continued to focus on strengthening our balance sheet by delivering our backlog, selling inventory aggressively and renegotiating our land positions," said CEO Stuart Miller. Lennar is not the only home builder hit by the slump in housing. In the last few months, Pulte, Centex and Toll Brothers have all given earnings guidance below forecasts, and analysts are forecasting continued earnings declines at other home-building companies as well. But a government report last week on new-home sales offered a bit of good news: stronger than expected sales pace and a gain in median prices in November. Your comment?