Atlanta-based Beazer Homes finished 2008 as the region's top-selling builder, outpacing Texas builders Centex Homes, which ranked first in 2007, and D.R. Horton, which led the region in 2006.
Beazer's 432 sales represented nearly one in every 10 homes sold in 2008. Beazer was also one of the few firms to beat its 2007 numbers. Last year, it had 386 sales. Arizona-based Taylor Morrison Homes also bettered its 2007 performance. It sold 259 homes last year, eight more than in 2007, statistics show.
Michael Penbera, Beazer's Sacramento division sales manager, attributed the rise to prices beginning at $179,900 in Rancho Cordova's Capital Village and even lower at its Natomas Field project north of downtown Sacramento.
Penbera acknowledged that many buyers come to model homes to compare against foreclosure prices. But he said, "There's some peace in purchasing a new home with a warranty, with a lot of the energy-efficient features that older ones aren't required to have."
Rancho Cordova, indeed, was the only part of the region to see higher fourth-quarter sales in 2008 than 2007.
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