Toll Brothers CEO, Robert Toll had some positive comments on housing today:
Robert I. Toll, chairman and chief executive officer, stated: “Despite a weak economic and employment landscape, which was reflected in fiscal 2009’s second-quarter contracts, we have a few reasons for cautious optimism. The most encouraging is our recent deposit activity. Beginning with the week ended March 22, 2009, our per-community (same-store) deposits have exceeded FY 2008’s same-store deposits in seven of the past nine weeks.’
Although the housing industry clearly is not yet out of the woods, we believe the U.S. Government’s forceful intervention in the capital markets has begun to restore some confidence that the financial system is on the road to stabilization. We believe many upscale-home buyers have postponed their buying decision over the past three years due to weak consumer confidence and concerns about the economy; a renewal of confidence is the key to releasing this pent-up demand. With interest rates at an historic low, home price affordability at an historic high and consumer confidence starting to improve, we believe that more buyers are beginning to enter the housing market.”
Of course, this is the same CEO who talked up the housing market the entire way down and sold shares every time there was an inkling of stock market strength.
Mr. Roche is the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Discipline Funds.Discipline Funds is a low fee financial advisory firm with a focus on helping people be more disciplined with their finances.
He is also the author of Pragmatic Capitalism: What Every Investor Needs to Understand About Money and Finance, Understanding the Modern Monetary System and Understanding Modern Portfolio Construction.