WLS Welsh Property Trust Common Stock

William Lyon Homes (NYSE:WLS) announced today preliminary new home orders, closings and backlog information for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2005. -0- *T Three Months Ended Twelve Months Ended December 31, December 31, 2005 2004 2005 2004 Number of new home orders: California 290 330 2,132 2,112 Arizona 88 100 542 677 Nevada 82 63 647 582 460 493 3,321 3,371 Average number of sales locations during period: California 30 24 28 28 Arizona 5 6 5 6 Nevada 9 7 8 7 44 37 41 41 Number of homes closed: California 1,069 850 2,003 2,336 Arizona 191 136 628 402 Nevada 208 224 565 733 1,468 1,210 3,196 3,471 December 31, 2005 2004 Backlog of homes sold but not closed at end of period: California 731 602 Arizona 396 482 Nevada 164 82 1,291 1,166 *T New home orders for the three months ended December 31, 2005 were 460, a decrease of 7% as compared to 493 for the three months ended December 31, 2004. New home orders for the twelve months ended December 31, 2005 were 3,321, a slight decrease as compared to 3,371 for the twelve months ended December 31, 2004. The Company's new home orders for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2005 include 61 and 566 homes from joint venture communities, respectively, compared to 147 and 955 homes from joint venture communities for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2004, respectively. The Company's number of new home orders per average sales location decreased to 10.5 for the three months ended December 31, 2005 as compared to 13.3 for the three months ended December 31, 2004. The Company's number of new home orders per average sales location decreased to 81.0 for the twelve months ended December 31, 2005, as compared to 82.2 for the twelve months ended December 31, 2004. The Company's cancellation rate for the three months ended December 31, 2005 was 31%, compared to 29% for the three months ended December 31, 2004. The Company's cancellation rate for the twelve months ended December 31, 2005 was 16%, compared to 17% for the twelve months ended December 31, 2004. The number of homes closed during the three months ended December 31, 2005 was 1,468, a record for any quarter in the Company's history and an increase of 21%, compared to 1,210 for the three months ended December 31, 2004. The number of homes closed during the twelve months ended December 31, 2005 was 3,196, a decrease of 8% as compared to 3,471 for the twelve months ended December 31, 2004. The Company's backlog of homes sold but not closed was 1,291 at December 31, 2005, a record for any fourth quarter in the Company's history and an increase of 11% as compared to 1,166 at December 31, 2004. William Lyon Homes is primarily engaged in the design, construction and sale of single family detached and attached homes in California, Arizona and Nevada and at December 31, 2005 had 44 sales locations. The Company's corporate headquarters are located in Newport Beach, California. For more information about the Company and its new home developments, please visit the Company's website at www.lyonhomes.com. Certain statements contained in this release that are not historical information contain forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and actual results may differ materially from those projected or implied. Further, certain forward-looking statements are based on assumptions regarding future events which may not prove to be accurate. Factors that may impact such forward-looking statements include, among others, changes in general economic conditions and in the markets in which the Company competes, the outbreak, continuation or escalation of war or other hostilities, including terrorism, involving the United States, changes in mortgage and other interest rates, changes in prices of homebuilding materials, weather, the occurrence of events such as landslides, soil subsidence and earthquakes that are uninsurable, not economically insurable or not subject to effective indemnification agreements, the availability of labor and homebuilding materials, changes in governmental laws and regulations, the timing of receipt of regulatory approvals and the opening of projects, and the availability and cost of land for future development, as well as the other factors discussed in the Company's reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.