MIAMI (AP) — Homebuilder Lennar Corp. trimmed its losses in the fourth quarter, but predicted more grim financial results ahead.

Like many homebuilders, Lennar has struggled through what chief executive Stuart Miller described yesterday as: "The most difficult housing market that, I dare say, any of those of us in the housing industry have ever encountered."

During a conference call with Wall Street analysts, Miller said the housing downturn accelerated in its fiscal fourth quarter, which ended on November 30.

"As we look out, home prices and volumes are clearly right now free falling as general economic pressures are driving a downward spiral that simply doesn't have a natural end," Miller said. Miami-based Lennar reported a fourth-quarter loss of $811 million, or $5.12 a share, compared with a record loss of $1.25 billion, or $7.92 a share, a year earlier. The year-ago loss was the biggest in the company's history, topping its 2007 third-quarter loss of $513.9 million. Results for the most recent quarter included 94 cents a share for write-offs.