Lennar is the fourth largest house builder in the US. Reuters reports: “Market conditions continued to weaken throughout the fourth quarter and we have not yet seen tangible evidence of a market recovery,” according to President and Chief Executive Stuart Miller.

For the fourth quarter, Lennar cut its profit outlook because of “materially lower gross margins on home sales … as a result of deteriorating market conditions in the home building industry.”

Excluding charges of between $400 million and $500 million related to evaluation of its land inventory, the Miami-based company now expects fourth-quarter earnings in the range of 70 to 75 cents a share.

In September, Lennar had cut its forecast to a range of $1 to $1.30 a share from a range of $2.55 to $2.60 a share. Analysts already had cut their consensus estimate to $1.07 a share, according to Reuters Estimates.

After the charges, Lennar expects a fourth-quarter loss in the range of 88 cents to $1.28 a share.

Lennar said deliveries fell 2.8 percent to 14,403 homes in the fourth quarter, while new orders declined 6 percent and backlog slumped 42 percent from a year ago to $4 billion at the end of November.