The real estate market has slowed down so much that diversified financial company Millennium Bankshares has decided to close down its mortgage banking division and focus on its other banking services. Seems like a great move given on Thursday, Jan. 25, an announcement was made that home sales saw its biggest drop in 17 years in 2006. The National Association of Realtors reported there was an 8.4% decline in existing home sales in 2006, falling to 6.48 million from the record 7.08 million level in 2005. Soft demand for housing has also affected homebuilders such as Atlanta-based Beazer Homes, which announced on Jan. 23 it had a steep loss of
$59 million, or $1.54 a share, for its fiscal first quarter, compared with net income of $89.9 million, or $2 a share, a year earlier. The Reston, Va.- bank said it will take charges in the fourth quarter of 2006.
"We were concerned about future volatility in earnings as a result of the soft housing market and wanted to eliminate, going forward, the risks normally associated with mortgage banking activities," says Carroll Markley, Millennium's CEO, in a statement. — Gerald Magpily
See Washington Business Journal article
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