KB Home Q1 2009 Orders - Signs of Life?

KB Home reported a healthy 23.9% increase in net orders for their Q1 2009 period. This is the first time that I have seen any homebuilder post a year over year increase in net orders since I began tracking the industry in July 2007. The strong increase was anchored by a 169.3% jump in its Central region, which primarily consists of Texas and Colorado (two of the stronger markets in the country). Even the Southwest region, composed of Arizona and Nevada saw a 19.4% jump vs. prior year. KB Home has aggressively repositioned its inventory to better compete against foreclosure properties. While pricing and margins have been impacted, the pickup in orders is a nice bit of news in an otherwise very troubled industry.