Toll Brothers CEO makes 50 million dollars and Two respected Chicago Firms Merge

Here is an interesting fact. Robert Toll, CEO of Toll Brothers Inc – the luxury home builder – has just sold 791,000 shares in the company after the share price jumped to around $23 following on from an upbeat report where Mr. Toll said, “We believe declining cancellations and more solid demand indicate that the housing market is stabilizing,” after the company posted a loss of  $472 million.

Not to put too fine a point on it, the share price only rose after two press reports were edited to show a far more up beat tone than had previously been the case. Mr Toll still owns some 15 million shares, so this is not exactly bailing out, but is is an odd co-incidence and I do wonder what effect this will have on the company share price.

Perhaps no effect. We seem to have a zombie banking system holding up a zombie stock market at the moment. As unemployment in the UK rose to the highest level since 1995 with over 2.4 million now out of work, the FTSE index rose 1% on the announcement. The disconnect between the underlying data and investor sentiment seems to have us headed for another fall. Perhaps of greater magnitude than the last one. The other “disturbing” disconnect in the market place currently is the growing gap between new home sales and existing ones.

The mergers and consolidations happening in the luxury real estate market are also continuing apace and the latest merger is between Prudential Preferred Properties and Rubloff. The new company will operate as Prudential Rubloff Properties, According to the press release, which is here, the merger bonds two of Chicago’s most respected firms whose distinguished roots trace back nearly 80 years. Principals Chris Eigel and Michael Pierson, longtime veterans of Chicagoland real estate, will lead the new company as chief executive officer and president/chairman. Rubloff principals Howard Weinstein and Tom Horwich complete the Prudential Rubloff leadership team and will continue with the firm focusing on future growth in the metropolitan market.