Charges Bash Pulte Bottom Line

Pulte Homes(PHM Quote) swung to a big third-quarter loss as the homebuilder recorded more than $1 billion in impairments and charges tied to the housing slump.

The Bloomfield Hills, Mich., company recorded a loss of $787.9 million, or $3.12 a share, compared with a year-ago profit of $190.2 million, or 74 cents a share.

The results were hit by $1.18 billion in pretax charges from land impairments, land-related charges and goodwill impairment.

Most builders have been recording such charges since the housing slowdown forced them to slash prices on homes. As a result, they have to mark down the value of land and housing inventory on their balance sheets to reflect that the inventory is no longer profitable. Centex(CTX Quote), for one, also had nearly $1 billion in charges in its most recent quarter. ...