D.R. Horton, the largest home builder in the U.S., is a good proxy for the entire industry. Comments in a press release today lowered expectations for future profitability.

Donald R. Horton, Chairman of the Board, said, “Our people have worked very hard to achieve these results during a time when selling conditions are very difficult in the homebuilding industry. We have experienced a changing home sales environment since the beginning of the calendar year, which became more evident during our third quarter. As we indicated when we reported our net sales orders last week, the current home sales environment is characterized by an increase in both existing and new homes available for sale, higher than normal cancellation rates and an increase in the use of sales incentives in many of our markets.