New York — The CEO of the nation’s largest home builder was unusually blunt about the soft housing market and its impact on his company, telling analysts at an investor conference here yesterday that 2007 will “suck.”
“I don’t want to be too sophisticated here,” Donald Tomnitz, chief executive of D.R. Horton, said at the Citigroup gathering, “but ’07 is going to suck, all 12 months of the calendar year.”
He blamed the prolonged downturn on a housing glut that followed a five-year boom cycle marked by record land purchases and new-home construction.
Extended weakness in the housing market would have a profound impact on major appliance manufacturers and dealers, who were counting on a rebound in home — and white-goods sales — in the second half of the year.
