CHICAGO (Bloomberg) — Homebuilders Toll Brothers Inc. and Beazer Homes USA Inc. said orders for new homes declined and customer cancellations rose as a US housing slump deepened.Toll, the largest US luxury home builder, said fiscal fourth-quarter homebuilding revenue fell ten percent and orders tumbled 58 percent. Beazer Homes, the seventh-largest home builder by revenue, said orders dropped 58 percent.

“We continue to look for signs that a recovery is imminent but can’t say that one is in sight,” Toll Chief Executive Officer Robert Toll said yesterday on a conference call. Buyers have lost confidence in the home market and are delaying purchases, convinced that prices will continue to fall, he said.

Toll’s homebuilding sales declined to $1.81 billion in the three months ended October 31 from $2.01 billion a year earlier, the Horsham, Pennsylvania-based company said today. The company cut its forecast for the number of houses it plans to build in the next year and is also reevaluating plans to buy more land.

The homebuilders’ reports coincided with a two-week, $1.3 million newspaper ad campaign by the National Association of Realtors to persuade potential customers it’s a good time to buy.

Hovnanian Enterprises Inc., New Jersey’s largest homebuilder, said yesterday that new contracts for fourth quarter dropped 36 percent to 3,100, reflecting a “continued high level of contract cancellations.” Cancellations for the quarter were 35 percent of gross contracts, up from 25 percent a year earlier.

Fewer Contracts

Toll, the sixth-largest home-builder by revenue, said it will complete between 6,300 and 7,300 homes in the current fiscal year, less than the previous forecast in August of 7,000 to 8,000. The decline is due to cancellations and fewer contracts, the company said.

The value of contracts signed fell 55 percent to $710 million in the quarter, down from a $1.59 billion record in the same period a year ago. The company said the contract signings were hurt by a “higher than normal 585 cancellations.” Almost 25 percent of the cancellations came in the Orlando, Florida and Northern California markets, Toll said.

During the quarter, Toll Brothers sold 2,502 homes, compared with 2,957 houses during the same period last year.

Toll’s backlog, the number of units ordered that have not yet been sold, totaled $4.49 billion, down 25 percent compared with $6.01 billion in the fourth quarter of 2005.

“The excess supply of homes on the market is putting downward pressure on prices and that’s making some potential buyers put off a purchase until the negative impact is finished or near finished,” said David Berson, chief economist of Washington-based Fannie Mae, the world’s largest mortgage company.

Beazer Homes said in a statement fiscal fourth-quarter net income fell on sales enticements and costs to cut jobs and exit land positions. The quarterly results beat analyst expectations.

Net income at Atlanta-based Beazer fell to $91.9 million, or $2.19 a share, from $164.4 million, or $3.61, a year earlier. Revenue rose 3.8 percent to $1.9 billion in the quarter ended Sept. 30, the company said in a statement.

Beazer was expected to earn $1.65 a share, according to six analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial.

The company said it had “reduced demand” in all of its markets and a “significantly higher rate of cancellations” from the prior year.

Chief executive officer Ian J. McCarthy said on a conference call that “the sales environment continues to be very difficult” and that the company has not seen any “meaningful evidence” that a rebound in housing is imminent.

The company forecast earnings of $3.65 a share for the current fiscal year, lower than the $3.69 average estimate of seven analysts surveyed by Thomson.

Shares of Beazer rose 51 cents to $42.45 at 4:01 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The stock is down 42 percent this year. Toll shares fell 1 cent to $28.04. York Stock Exchange composite trading.