Jul. 29--Dallas-based Centex Corp. said it lost an additional $150 million, or $1.21 per share, in the just completed quarter.

The big homebuilding company's loss was greater than the $128 million recorded a year earlier. But the latest financial report was an improvement from the $910 million the company lost during the period ending March 31.

Even so, Centex officials aren't expecting a turnaround in the beleaguered housing market.

"The housing market worsened in the June quarter, and I don't expect to see it improve this fiscal year," Tim Eller, Centex chairman and CEO, said in a statement.

Centex's revenues for the most recent quarter were $1.13 billion -- down 41 percent from a year earlier.

And Centex took another $80 million in charges and write-offs in the latest quarter.

The company sold 3,939 houses in the period ended June 30 -- a 35 percent drop in sales from a year earlier. And the average home sales price was 10 percent lower at $262,044.

During the past quarter, Centex's greatest regional decline in home sales was in the Eastern U.S., which fell by 42 percent.

In Texas, the homebuilder's sales were down 34 percent from a year ago.

And Centex's nationwide sales orders at the end of June were down 35 percent from the same quarter last year.

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Story Source: The Dallas Morning News