FORT WORTH, Texas, Nov 20, 2007 (AP) -- D.R. Horton Inc. said Tuesday it swung to a loss in the fiscal fourth quarter from a year-ago profit, as the nation's largest homebuilder by deliveries took massive charges to write down inventory and the value of land options.

Tighter lending standards, rising defaults among borrowers with weak credit and falling prices for existing homes have resulted in fewer buyers in the market, hurting homebuilders across the sector. Chairman Donald R. Horton said he expects the housing environment to "remain challenging."

Losses for the quarter ended Sept. 30 totaled $50.1 million, or 16 cents per share, compared with profit of $277.7 million, or 88 cents per share, a year ago.

The latest quarter includes pretax charges of $278.3 million for inventory impairments and $40.3 million of write-offs related to land option contracts that the company doesn't intend to pursue. The latest period also includes a pretax goodwill impairment charge of $48.5 million.

Sales declined 35 percent to $3.12 billion from $4.8 billion in the 2006 period.

The results still topped consensus estimates of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial, who predicted a much larger loss of 66 cents per share on revenue of $2.90 billion.

Homes closed in the current quarter totaled 11,733 homes, compared with 17,261 homes in the year-ago quarter.

"Market conditions continued to decline in our September quarter as inventory levels of both new and existing homes remained high while pricing remained very competitive," said Donald R. Horton, chairman. "We also experienced reduced mortgage availability due to tighter lending standards, and buyers continued to approach the home buying decision cautiously."

The report came the day after the National Association of Home Builders said its housing market index, which gauges builders' perceptions of conditions and expectations for home sales the next six months, came in at 19 in November, matching an upwardly revised reading for October.

The number for both months was at the lowest level since the index began in January 1985, but the November reading was a point higher than the consensus forecast of economists surveyed by Thomson/IFR.