FORT WORTH, Texas — D.R. Horton Inc., the nation's largest homebuilder, said yesterday it swung to a loss in its fiscal first quarter, due to hefty charges to write off inventory and land values as the housing slump continues to worsen.

Losses for the quarter ended Dec. 31 totaled $128.8 million, or 41 cents per share, compared with profit of $109.7 million, or 35 cents per share, a year ago. The 2008 quarter includes $245.5 million in pretax charges to write down inventory and the value of land deposits.

Revenue plunged to $1.71 billion from $2.8 billion a year ago. The builder closed on 6,549 homes, down sharply from 10,202 in the 2007 period.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial expected a loss of 25 cents per share on revenue of $1.62 billion.

D.R. Horton, which operates in Hawai'i as D.R. Horton Schuler Division, said its sales order backlog of homes under contract at Dec. 31 was 8,138 homes ($2.0 billion), compared to 16,694 homes ($4.7 billion), at Dec. 31, 2006. The cancellation rate for the first quarter was 44 percent.

"Market conditions remained challenging in our December quarter as inventory levels of both new and existing homes remained high while pricing remained very competitive," said Donald R. Horton, chairman, in a statement. "Lending standards continue to be more restrictive than during the previous year, and buyers continued to approach the home-buying decision cautiously."