Fitch: U.S. Homebuilders Resilient in Mildly Declining '06 Market; Teleconference 12/9 10AM EST

Business Wire, Dec 7, 2005

NEW YORK -- U.S. public homebuilders appear to be well-prepared to weather a mildly declining housing environment in the coming year, according to Fitch Ratings. In fact, 2006 may potentially bring rating upgrades for several issuers.

Fitch Ratings will be outlining its Stable Outlook for the U.S. homebuilders in more detail during a conference call to take place Friday, Dec. 9 at 10:00 a.m. EST. The call will be hosted by Fitch Senior Director and primary homebuilding analyst Robert Curran.

Following are the details of Friday's teleconference:

U.S. and Canadian participants should call 877-241-2557 and International participants should dial 706-643-7396. All participants should dial in 10 minutes prior to the 10:00 a.m. EST start time and give the conference name, 'Fitch Ratings,' and the call leader name 'Robert Curran'.

Interested parties who are not available for the teleconference will be able to hear a replay of the call beginning approximately one hour after the call until Dec. 16 at 11:59 p.m. EDT. For the replay, domestic participants must dial 800-642-1687, and international listeners should

dial 706-645-9291 and also use the conference ID, '3004954'.

A streaming audio version of the teleconference also will be made available beginning approximately 24 hours from the conclusion of the initial call. Interested parties can find the appropriate web audio link under 'Resource Library,' 'Company Events,' and 'Online Media,' on the Fitch Ratings web site at on www.fitchratings.com.

Fitch's rating definitions and the terms of use of such ratings are available on the agency's public site, www.fitchratings.com. Published ratings, criteria and methodologies are available from this site, at all times. Fitch's code of conduct, confidentiality, conflicts of interest, affiliate firewall, compliance and other relevant policies and procedures are also available from the 'Code of Conduct' section of this site.