HOME BUILDER'S PROFITS SURGE NEWHALL LAND PARENT SEES 50 PERCENT RISE.

Byline: Staff and Wire Service

Lennar Corp., one of the nation's largest home builders and owner of Newhall Land, posted a 50 percent jump in profits, reflecting a bustling summer housing market that showed few signs of slowing.

The Miami-based part owner of The Newhall Land and Farming Company reported earnings of $337.3 million, or $2.06 per share, for the third quarter ending Aug. 31. compared to $225.0 million, or $1.36 per share from a year ago.

The results announced Monday beat the average estimate of $1.98 a share expected by analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial. Shares of Lennar traded on the New York Stock Exchange closed at $57 Tuesday, down 7 cents.

``Our strong performance reflects the continued strength of the home-building market along with our intense focus on our home-building process,'' Stuart Miller, Lennar's president and chief executive officer, said in a statement.

Revenues from home sales jumped 30 percent in the third quarter to $3.2 billion from the same period in 2004. Officials attributed it to 14 percent increases in average sale price and the number of homes delivered - 10,503 compared to a year ago.

For the first nine months of the year, the company reported profits of $774 million, or $4.71 a share, on revenues of $8.84 billion, compared to $565.9 million, or $3.42 a share, on revenues of $6.95 billion a year earlier.

Miller said the company has raised its full-year earnings forecast to $8.10 a share from $7.80. Analysts had on average been expecting earnings of $7.92.

``New home sales activity continued to point to strong consumer demand as our new orders increased 24 percent year-over-year,'' Miller said. ``As the industry continues to benefit from favorable market conditions, we continue to strengthen our position in strategic markets through organic and acquisitive growth.''

Lennar, which partnered with LNR Property to purchased Newhall Land for $990 million in 2004, has home-building divisions in 13 states. In California, it has projects in the Antelope Valley and is developing homes on 3,700-acres at the former El Toro Marine Air Base in Irvine. The company also is the lead developer of Stevenson Ranch.

In the Santa Clarita Valley, Newhall Land is preparing to submit plans for Landmark Village - the first phase of its 21,000-home Newhall Ranch project west of Interstate 5 - for a county Regional Planning Commission hearing January, officials said.

Meantime, the developer is gearing to start its 2,500-home Westcreek project in Valencia. A lawsuit forced revisions in its environmental impact report to address water supply and the Western spadefoot toad, a state species of concern.

Another project - the 1,089-home Riverpark in Saugus - has stalled due to a lawsuit filed by four environmental groups against the city of Santa Clarita, which approved in May the subdivision slated for 695 acres north of the Santa Clara River.

The lawsuit brought by the Sierra Club, Friends of the Santa Clara River, the Center for Biological Diversity and the California Water Impact Network alleges the city ignored key concerns, including flood-plain encroachment. They claim the project also could worsen air and water pollution along the 84-mile waterway.

The plaintiffs sued in Ventura County, but Judge Vincent J. O'Neill granted a change-of-venue request to Los Angeles County filed by city and Newhall Land, which is assisting in the city's defense.

The case has been assigned to Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Dzintra Janavs, Newhall Land spokeswoman Marlee Lauffer said. A status conference is scheduled this month.

Janavs has ruled on several local environmental lawsuits. In a case against the city filed by developer Palmer Investments, which has proposed a 5,800-home community in the Newhall Pass, she ordered the city to provide a detailed environmental study before annexing that property - an attempt by Santa Clarita leaders to kill the project.

But Janavs sided with the city on a separate case last year. The lawsuit filed by the Santa Clarita Organization for Planning the Environment and other groups alleged officials violated the city ridgeline ordinance and other laws when they approved the environmental impact report for a 508-acre business park in Newhall.

Janavs ruled that city officials were within their rights to amend a hillside and ridgeline development ordinance for the Gate King project in Needham Ranch and had adequately studied water supply, plant life and oak tree removal.