ConDig (27-Apr-17).  Profit at Taylor Morrison Home Corp surged 37% in the first quarter of this year as the US homebuilder reported revenue rising by nearly a fifth from a year earlier.

The Scottsdale, Arizona-based company booked net income of $36.6 million in the three months ended March 31 compared with $25.9 million in the same period last year.

It comes as sals rose 19% to $769 million from $645.3 million the year-ago period, while net sales orders jumped a third to 2,425.

Backlog of homes under contract at the end of the quarter was 3,927 units, up 14% from the prior year quarter and the company reported that it finished the quarter with higher than expected closings of 1,630, up 17% year-over-year.

Homebuilding inventories were $3.1 billion at the end of the first quarter, including 4,396 homes in inventory, compared with 4,388 homes in inventory at the end of the prior year quarter.

“When thinking about what’s on the horizon, April is really shaping up to be another strong month for us with a sales pace expected to be near three sales per community per month compared to a pace of 2.3 for the same time frame last year,” said Sheryl Palmer, president and chief executive officer of Taylor Morrison.

Healthy market conditions continue to underpin earnings at many US homebuilders amid solid demand and dwindling inventory levels, while mortgage rates remain near historic lows despite recent moves higher.

But there are concerns that growth in the housing sector this year could be hampered by further rises in mortgage rates that could leave many price-sensitive first-time buyers on the sidelines of the market, while labor and material costs continue to be elevated.

Latest Commerce Department figures show that housing starts dropped 6.8% last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.215 million, but were still up 9.2% on the year-ago period of 1.113 million.