From The Record, Sunday, April 29, 2007:

Ara Hovnanian, the company’s 49-year-old CEO, has been there through it all. The publicly held company was founded by his father in 1959, and he joined it 20 years later after receiving his bachelor’s and MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
…
Q. How’s the outlook for housing for the rest of 2007?

My response is different today than it would have been a couple of months ago. Had you asked in January or February, I would have said it really looks like the market is stabilizing. Then this whole issue regarding the subprime mortgage industry came out, and that caused sales to dip. Now my prognosis is not as optimistic as it was. Obviously, the industry is still selling a lot of houses, but the recovery and spring bounce-back we had been hoping for seems to be stalled.

Q. When do you think things might start looking better?

My guess is at least a few quarters. I think we’re right near the bottom of the marketplace. I think it is likely to stay flat along the bottom for two to three quarters. The market needs to work off some of the excess inventory of housing.

Q. So we’re talking about the beginning of 2008?

That’s probably a reasonable guess at this point.
…