Home Front: Beazer moves to smaller digs, KB slims down

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Home Front

A blog about the economy and the Sacramento-area real estate market.

August 25, 2008

Beazer moves to smaller digs, KB slims down

Hard times in the home building business keep taking their toll.

Last week we got an e-mail from from a business inside the Beazer Homes' office building on Douglas Blvd. in Roseville. The question: Where did Beazer go? The builder had disapeared.

I called Kathryn Boyce of Hanley Wood Market Intelligence, who said the Atlanta builder has moved to smaller space on Roseville Parkway. With so many fewer staffers in this greatly-cooled market they didn't need the big building anymore. The office is being run now out of Southern California, she said.

Boyce also noted that the industry is buzzing about more downsizing at KB Home offices in Natomas. She said the builder is down to about 15-20 employees, down from about 60.

Beazer is ranked second in the region for sales the first half of 2008 - at 278.
KB of Los Angeles is third with 182 sales, according to Hanley Wood statistics.
Centex of Dallas still rules with 364 sales.

It's easy to see why they are downsizing: Builders in El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento and Yolo counties started just 3,523 units through July. The same time last year they started 5,845, according to the Construction Industry Research Board.

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