By Arlene Satchell
Sun-Sentinel.com
12:52 PM EST, January 29, 2008
To salvage operations in a sagging housing market, Hollywood-based home builder TOUSA Inc. said today it filed for bankruptcy protection from its creditors and proposed a plan to reorganize its finances.
The company’s announcement comes less than three months after another South Florida builder, Fort Lauderdale-based Levitt and Sons sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November.
With assets of $2.3 billion and debts of $1.8 billion, TOUSA is the largest builder nationwide to file bankruptcy and joins at least 14 other builders who have filed.
The Broward County home builder lost 98 percent of its market share in the past year and recorded a third-quarter net loss of $619.7 million, or $10.43 a share, compared with a loss of $80 million, or $1.34 a share, for the same period in 2006.
“It’s just another indication that the housing market downturn is claiming more victims,” said Mike Larson, a housing analyst with Weiss Research in Jupiter. TOUSA had been sounding the alarm for months about its ability to survive the housing slump and this latest move comes as no surprise.
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