KB Home: Back on the East Coast

  KB Home announced on Wednesday that it would resume construction in areas of the East Coast where it had curtailed activity during the U.S. housing downturn.

Photo: KB Home: Back on the East Coast

   KB Home  is a homebuilding company based in the United States, founded in 1957 as Kaufman & Broad. It was the first company to be traded on the NYSE as a home builder and is a Fortune 500 company. Its headquarters are in Los Angeles, California.

   KB Home offers complete mortgage services through a joint venture with Bank of America.

  The company said it was resuming its homebuilding operations in the mid-Atlantic region, including Maryland and Virginia.

   "We retained some of our most valuable land options with an eye toward rolling out new communities when the time was right," regional President Vince DePorre said in a statement. "That time is now."

   KB had decided in March 2008 to wind down operations in Washington, D.C.; Chicago; and New Mexico to preserve cash.

The company's shares were up 1 percent at $20 in premarket trading, according to Reuters' report.