Posted By: Tom Hustler

Tue Nov 14, 9:00 PM ET

Westfield Group of Sydney, the world's biggest owner of shopping centers, may sell assets or create joint ventures to raise capital after scrapping plans for a A$2 billion (US$1.5 billion) Australian property fund that would hold states in Austrian malls.

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Investors demanded too much say in how the fund would be run, Managing Director Peter Lowy told analysts on a conference call. Lowy said he's now talking to "larger domestic and international funds who expressed strong interest" in investing in his malls.

In San Diego County, Westfield owns seven malls it calls shoppingtowns: Horton Plaza, Mission Valley Center and University Towne Center, all in San Diego; North County in Escondido, Parkway Plaza in El Cajon, Plaza Bonita in National City and Plaza Camino Real in Carlsbad.

Westfield can boost earnings by refurbishing and building malls rather than buying properties to increase rental income. The company's shares have stalled this year while Macquarie Goodman Group and Centro Properties Group, which run unlisted funds, have surged 40 percent and 38 percent, respectively.

"There's other areas to source some more effective capital," said Andrew Parsons, who manages the equivalent of $2.5 billion in property stocks, including Westfield shares, at Resolution Capital in Sydney.

Lowy said he may sell assets, create joint ventures, attract buyout firms or consider starting other funds to churn capital tied up in shopping centers into Westfield's A$6.9 billion in mall developments.

Westfield has 18 projects under construction and completed A$1.7 billion of developments in the quarter ended Sept. 30, including a A$610 million center in San Francisco and the A$230 million Century City project in Los Angeles.

Retail sales rose 5.9 percent at its 59 U.S. malls in the quarter, boosted by demand for leisure goods and women's fashion. Shops at these centers had sales of $7.3 billion in the 12 months ended Sept. 30, up 5 percent from a year earlier. Westfield increased rents at the U.S. malls by an average 4.4 percent during the year, with 94 percent of its space leased to retailers.

D.R. Horton profit beats analysts

D.R. Horton Inc. (NYSE: DHI - news), the largest U.S. homebuilder, reported fiscal fourth-quarter profit that exceeded analysts' estimates after it reduced the number of houses it iss building and sold them at higher average prices. The shares rose as much as 7.3 percent.

D.R. Horton has several projects in San Diego County including: La Boheme in North Park, Atlas in Hillcrest, Pell Place in Carmel Valley and Park on 54th, all in San Diego; Palisades at San Elijo Hills and Sonoma at San Elijo Hills, both in San Marcos; and The Paramount in Escondido.

Net income dropped 51 percent to $277.7 million, or 88 cents a share, on higher expenses to write down deposits and land purchases. Analysts in a Thomson Financial survey expected profit of 69 cents. Revenue fell 4.4 percent to $4.8 billion, the Fort Worth, Texas-based company said in a statement. In the year earlier period, the company earned $563.8 million.

D.R. Horton closed on more homes than expected and reduced construction by 27 percent, said Bank of America Corp. analyst Daniel Oppenheim in a report. The U.S. housing market remains challenging, Chairman Donald Horton said in the statement, and the company's orders fell in all regions.

"The worst in housing is probably behind us," said Lawrence Yun, an economist for the National Association of Realtors in Washington. "The market is stabilizing in large part because mortgage rates have fallen."

D.R. Horton had better-than-expected closings of 17,261 units, which helped lift earnings by 26 cents a share, Oppenheim said. The company had estimated about 14,162 closings. It reduced the number of homes under construction to 29,000, he said. In the fourth-quarter, new home orders slid 25 percent -- a sign demand continues to slow as the housing market cools.

D.R. Horton, which sells houses from $90,000 to more than $900,000, is trying to avoid cutting prices and is relying on incentives to reduce the inventory of unsold properties.

Orders in Alabama, Florida and Georgia slumped 51 percent to $264.7 million. Orders in Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma slipped 2.8 percent to $615.6 million. That was the best showing of any region and accounted for the largest number of orders in the quarter.

The quarter included expenses of $199.2 million incurred to write-off deposits for homes and costs for land the company no longer plans on buying. On Oct. 10, D.R. Horton said its cancellation rate in the quarter was 40 percent.

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