Housing Crash Taking a Toll

The daughter of Bruce Toll, the Vice Chairman and co-founder of Toll Brothers, might be a person who knows what is going on in the housing market. So it is interesting to see that she is bailing on the purchase of a condo from Toll Brothers.

Reuter, In a Feb11, 2008 article entitled, “Toll relative walks away from new condo – filing,” says:

Luxury builder Toll Brothers Inc, hurt as many buyers to try to get out of contracts for new homes amid falling prices, says a member of its founding family is trying to walk away from an agreement to buy a new condominium.

The daughter of Vice Chairman and co-founder Bruce Toll informed the company last month that she and her husband "did not intend to make settlement" on a $2.47 million home they had previously agreed to purchase, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Toll Brothers went on to say that it intends to pursue its rights under the agreement of sale with Toll's daughter, Wendy Topkis.

A company spokesman was not immediately available for comment on the filing, which was made public on Friday.

The company, hard hit by the U.S. real estate slump, said last week that it sees no signs of improvement in the depressed housing market. It estimated a 22 percent drop in home-building revenue for its fiscal first quarter, ended Jan. 31.

You don’t often get “insider information” like this. If the other facts haven’t convinced you of the direction of the market, this might.