Douglas C. Yearley, Jr. - Toll Brothers, Inc.
Management
Sure. So we'll start with California. Obviously, business is fantastic out there as reflected by the numbers this quarter. I know you travel a lot, Stephen, and you've seen it, and as impressed you were with the Sullivan model in Phoenix. What we are doing in both Northern and Southern California is that same word, spectacular. We have distinguished ourselves with our communities, with our architecture, with the ability to go to our design studios and truly create a custom home and it's really paying off. The markets are very strong. Northern California was led by the grand opening of a new community in Fremont, right next to the new BART station and the Tesla facility called Metro Crossing. We've sold 53 units north of $1 million in the last two months with our grand opening at Metro Crossing. So, that was certainly the number one driver in Northern Cal. And in Southern Cal, it continues to be Orange County where we just have seen fantastic results. The market is very strong. Job growth is in place. It's a very diversified economy. And with respect to pricing, we continue to have significant pricing power in both Northern and Southern California. We raise prices regularly. We also keep an eye on, obviously, growing backlogs and how quickly we can turn houses. And for as big as our backlogs are in California and as expensive and complicated as our houses are, we are able to build those houses faster than in many other parts of the country. So the trade base is in place, and we are continuing to manage pricing with the size of the backlog. Right now, it's in balance, and I'm just thrilled with where we're positioned. And I see a very bright future going forward in California. We also have some very exciting new land deals that we're working on. So, all is good out West. With respect to the Mid-Atlantic, it was our only area that, as I mentioned, was down in sales, and it was driven by fewer sales in Northern Virginia, which is our biggest Mid-Atlantic market. And we think Northern Virginia was down in the first quarter for two reasons. The first is that we had lower community count, as we are in between phases in a few of our large master-planned communities. And the second reason, we believe, is due to the uncertainty associated with the federal government budgetary debates that occurred in December and January. And of course, while these debates were national news, they had a more direct impact on the local Northern Virginia buyer.