Note 3 - Segment Reporting

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2011

Segment Reporting Disclosure [Text Block]

3. Segment Reporting

We operate two principal businesses: homebuilding and financial services.

Our homebuilding operations construct and sell single-family attached and detached homes. In accordance with the aggregation criteria defined in ASC Topic 280, Segment Reporting, our homebuilding operating segments have been grouped into three reportable segments: California; Southwest, consisting of our operating divisions in Arizona, Texas, Colorado and Nevada; and Southeast, consisting of our operating divisions in Florida and the Carolinas.

Our mortgage financing operation provides mortgage financing to our homebuyers in substantially all of the markets in which we operate, and sells substantially all of the loans it originates in the secondary mortgage market.  Our title service operation provides title examinations for our homebuyers in Texas.  Our mortgage financing and title services operations are included in our financial services reportable segment, which is separately reported in our consolidated financial statements under “Financial Services.”

Corporate is a non-operating segment that develops and implements strategic initiatives and supports our operating divisions by centralizing key administrative functions such as finance and treasury, information technology, insurance and risk management, litigation, marketing and human resources.  Corporate also provides the necessary administrative functions to support us as a publicly traded company.  A substantial portion of the expenses incurred by Corporate are allocated to the homebuilding operating divisions based on their respective percentage of revenues.

Segment financial information relating to the Company’s homebuilding operations was as follows:

	Year Ended December 31,
	2011			2010			2009
	(Dollars in thousands)
Homebuilding revenues:
California	$	506,002		$	546,946		$	665,414
Southwest (1)		190,622			187,609			238,249
Southeast		186,369			177,863			262,734
Total homebuilding revenues	$	882,993		$	912,418		$	1,166,397
Homebuilding pretax income (loss):
California	$	11,357		$	39,594		$	(16,817	)
Southwest (1)		(10,231	)		(5,103	)		(28,950	)
Southeast		(10,236	)		(8,902	)		(30,880	)
Corporate		(9,046	)		(39,590	)		(34,421	)
Total homebuilding pretax loss	$	(18,156	)	$	(14,001	)	$	(111,068	)
Homebuilding income (loss) from unconsolidated joint ventures:
California	$	354		$	1,835		$	6,727
Southwest		(22	)		(123	)		(11,487	)
Southeast		(125	)		(546	)		43
Total homebuilding income (loss) from unconsolidated joint ventures	$	207		$	1,166		$	(4,717	)
Restructuring charges:
California	$	883		$	―		$	2,167
Southwest		347			―			2,172
Southeast		469			―			5,052
Corporate		368			―			12,750
Total restructuring charges	$	2,067		$	―		$	22,141

(1) Excludes our Tucson and San Antonio divisions, which were classified as discontinued operations in 2009.

Homebuilding pretax income (loss) includes the following pretax inventory and joint venture impairment charges and land deposit write-offs recorded in the following segments:

	Year Ended December 31, 2011
	California		Southwest			Southeast		Total
	(Dollars in thousands)
Deposit write-offs	$	876		$	657	$	612	$	2,145
Inventory impairments		9,490			2,878		821		13,189
Total impairments and deposit write-offs	$	10,366		$	3,535	$	1,433	$	15,334

	Year Ended December 31, 2010
	California		Southwest			Southeast		Total
	(Dollars in thousands)
Deposit write-offs	$	―		$	―	$	100	$	100
Inventory impairments		―			331		1,487		1,818
Joint venture impairments		―			―		471		471
Total impairments and deposit write-offs	$	―		$	331	$	2,058	$	2,389

	Year Ended December 31, 2009
	California		Southwest			Southeast		Total
	(Dollars in thousands)
Deposit write-offs	$	―		$	1,298	$	1,192	$	2,490
Inventory impairments		43,313			6,987		10,150		60,450
Joint venture impairments		―			8,141		―		8,141
Total impairments and deposit write-offs	$	43,313		$	16,426	$	11,342	$	71,081

Segment financial information relating to the Company’s homebuilding assets and investments in unconsolidated joint ventures was as follows:

	December 31,
	2011		2010
	(Dollars in thousands)
Homebuilding assets:
California	$	985,560	$	819,376
Southwest		355,060		233,120
Southeast		294,996		237,635
Corporate		473,971		786,791
Total homebuilding assets	$	2,109,587	$	2,076,922
Homebuilding investments in unconsolidated joint ventures:
California	$	76,999	$	69,968
Southwest		2,770		2,743
Southeast		2,038		1,150
Total homebuilding investments in unconsolidated joint ventures	$	81,807	$	73,861