General

KB Home is one of the largest and most recognized homebuilding companies in the U.S. and has been building homes for more than 50 years. We construct and sell homes through our operating divisions under the name KB Home. Unless the context indicates otherwise, the terms “we,” “our” and “us” used in this report refer to KB Home, a Delaware corporation, and its predecessors and subsidiaries.

Beginning in 1957 and continuing until 1986, our business was conducted by various subsidiaries of Kaufman and Broad, Inc. (“KBI”) and its predecessors. In 1986, KBI transferred all of its homebuilding and mortgage banking operations to us. Shortly after the transfer, we completed an initial public offering of 8% of our common stock and began operating under the name Kaufman and Broad Home Corporation. In 1989, we were spun-off from KBI, which then changed its name to Broad Inc., and we became an independent public company, operating primarily in California and France. In 2001, we changed our name to KB Home. Today, having sold our French operations in 2007, we operate a homebuilding and financial services business serving homebuyers in various markets across the U.S.

Our homebuilding operations offer a variety of new homes designed primarily for first-time, move-up and active adult homebuyers, including attached and detached single-family residential homes, townhomes and condominiums. We offer homes in development communities, at urban in-fill locations and as part of mixed-use projects. In this report, we use the term “home” to refer to a single-family residence, whether it is a single-family home or other type of residential property, and we use the term “community” to refer to a single development in which homes are constructed as part of an integrated plan.

Through our homebuilding reporting segments, we delivered 6,282 homes at an average selling price of $246,500 during the year ended November 30, 2012 , compared to 5,812 homes delivered at an average selling price of $224,600 during the year ended November 30, 2011 . Our homebuilding operations represent most of our business, accounting for 99.3% of our total revenues in 2012 and 99.2% of our total revenues in 2011 .

Our financial services reporting segment provides insurance services to our homebuyers in the same markets where we build homes and provides title services in the majority of our markets located within our Central and Southeast homebuilding reporting segments. In addition, since the third quarter of 2011, this segment has earned revenues pursuant to the terms of a marketing services agreement with a preferred mortgage lender that offers mortgage banking services, including mortgage loan originations, to our homebuyers . Our financial services operations accounted for .7% of our total revenues in 2012 and .8% of our total revenues in 2011 .

In 2012 , we generated total revenues of $1.56 billion and a net loss of $59.0 million , compared to total revenues of $1.32 billion and a net loss of $178.8 million in 2011 .

Our principal executive offices are located at 10990 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, California 90024. The telephone number of our corporate headquarters is (310) 231-4000 and our primary website address is www.kbhome.com. In addition, community location and information is available at (888) KB-HOMES.

Markets

Reflecting the geographic reach of our homebuilding business, as of the date of this report, our principal operations are in the 10 states and 33 major markets presented below. We also operate in various submarkets within these major markets. For reporting purposes, we organize our homebuilding operations into four segments — West Coast, Southwest, Central and Southeast.

Segment Operating Information. The following table presents certain operating information for our homebuilding reporting segments for the years ended November 30, 2012 , 2011 and 2010 :

Unconsolidated Joint Ventures. The above table does not include homes delivered from unconsolidated joint ventures in which we participate. These unconsolidated joint ventures acquire and develop land and, in some cases, build and deliver homes on the land developed. Over the last five years, we have reduced the number of homebuilding joint ventures in which we participate. Our unconsolidated joint ventures delivered no homes in 2012 , one home in 2011 , and 102 homes in 2010 .

Strategy

Since 1997, we have operated our homebuilding business following the principles of an operational business model that we call KBnxt. KBnxt provides the core framework under which we have established our main operational objectives and near-term strategic goals. We believe the principles of KBnxt set us apart from other large-production homebuilders and provide the foundation for our long-term growth.

KBnxt . With KBnxt, we seek to generate greater operating efficiencies and return on investment through a disciplined, fact-based and process-driven approach to homebuilding that is founded on a constant and systematic assessment of consumer preferences and market opportunities. The key principles of KBnxt include the following:

While we consider KBnxt to be integral to our success in the homebuilding industry, there have been instances where market conditions have made it necessary, in our view, to temporarily deviate from certain of its principles. For example, at times we have been unable to maintain an even flow production of homes in a particular area because of slow sales activity. Also, in specific targeted communities with strong demand, we have started construction on a small number of homes before a corresponding purchase contract was signed to more quickly meet the delivery expectations of homebuyers and generate revenues. These and other market-driven circumstances may arise in the future and lead us to make specific short-term shifts from the principles of KBnxt.

Operational Objectives . Guided by KBnxt, our main areas of operational focus are as follows:

production scheduling, our home construction process includes developing and refining a set of value-engineered home designs in ways that allow us to meet the needs of consumers in a variety of different markets, shorten cycle times and lower direct construction costs. It also includes taking advantage of economies of scale in contracting for building materials and skilled trade labor.

Near-Term Strategic Goals . As 2012 unfolded, the overall housing market showed increasing signs that it had stabilized and was recovering from the severe and widespread downturn that began in mid-2006, and some stronger housing markets experienced sustained positive momentum in sales activity and selling prices. Optimistic that the housing recovery could be at the beginning of a new upward business cycle for homebuilding, but mindful of the several challenges facing housing markets, we continued to execute on the following three primary integrated strategic goals that have been our focus during the past few years of the housing downturn:

In pursuing these goals, we have broadly transformed and refocused the scope, scale and position of our business both geographically and operationally, compared to the peak pre-housing downturn years of the prior decade, to adapt to changing housing market dynamics and volatile home sales activity. Several housing markets experienced challenging conditions during the housing downturn, which was deepened and extended by the negative impacts of the 2007-2009 economic recession and subsequent slow recovery, including high unemployment; sluggish economic growth; weak consumer confidence; elevated residential consumer mortgage loan delinquencies, defaults and foreclosures; turbulent financial and credit markets and tight mortgage lending standards and practices. These factors, to varying degrees, still affect housing markets. Given the difficult homebuilding environment, we, among other things, shifted resources from underperforming areas to markets offering perceived higher growth prospects, particularly land-constrained locations in coastal areas of California and in Texas, to maintain a solid growth platform; implemented measures to generate and conserve cash through reduced spending and asset sales, strengthen our balance sheet, improve our operating efficiencies and lower our overhead costs; and redesigned and re-engineered our products.

While these efforts to refocus our operations contributed to reduced inventory levels, lower community counts, and declines in our backlog, deliveries and revenues, and we posted operating losses, we believe they have strengthened our overall business relative to where we stood at the outset of the housing downturn and have positioned us to operate profitably to the extent there is continued progress in the present housing recovery. We generated net income in the second half of 2012 and our full-year deliveries and revenues were each higher than in 2011. In addition, our backlog at November 30, 2012, in terms of both homes and potential future housing revenues, was significantly higher than our backlog at November 30, 2011. We expect our community count to increase in 2013 largely as a result of a land acquisition initiative we began in late 2009 and accelerated in 2012, and the investments in land and land development we plan to make in 2013. We use the term “community count” to refer to the number of new home communities we have open for sales in a given period, and for this report our community count reflects as of a given period or date the number of our new home communities with at least one home left to sell.

Encouraged by the results of our efforts to reposition the company during the housing downturn and the steadily emerging indications during 2012 that the housing market is now past stabilization and into recovery, in the latter part of 2012, we expanded our primary integrated strategic goals to target both profitability and growing our business and, among other things, implemented the following initiatives:

more than 1,000 lots. We expect to generate deliveries and to realize the associated revenues from these activated assets in 2013.

In 2013, we intend to continue and may expand on our strategic growth initiatives, subject to conditions in the housing markets, the overall economy and the capital, credit and financial markets.

Promotional Marketing Strategy . Our promotional marketing efforts are centered on differentiating the KB Home brand in the minds of our core homebuyer demographic from resale homes and from new homes sold by other homebuilders. These efforts increasingly involve using interactive Internet-based applications, social media channels and resources and other technologies. We believe that our Built to Order message and approach generate a high perceived value for our products and our company among consumers and are unique among large-production homebuilders. In marketing our Built to Order approach, we emphasize how we partner with our homebuyers to create a home built to their individual preferences in design, layout, square footage and lot location, and give them the ability to significantly customize their home with design options that suit their needs and interests. In essence, Built to Order serves as the consumer face of core elements of our KBnxt operational business model and is designed to ensure that our promotional marketing strategy and advertising campaigns are closely aligned with our overall operational focus. For greater consistency with our promotional marketing messages and in the execution of our Built to Order approach, the selling of our homes is carried out by in-house teams of sales representatives and other personnel who work personally with each homebuyer to create a home that meets the homebuyer’s preferences and budget.

Our KB Home Studios are a key component of the Built to Order experience we offer to our homebuyers and help increase the revenues we generate from home sales. These showrooms, which are generally located close to our new home communities open for sales, allow our homebuyers to select from a wide variety of design options that are available for purchase as part of the original construction of their homes. The coordinated efforts of our sales representatives and KB Home Studio consultants are intended to generate higher customer satisfaction and lead to enhanced customer retention and referrals.

Sustainability . We have made a dedicated effort to further differentiate ourselves from other homebuilders and resale homes through our ongoing commitment to become a leading national company in environmental sustainability. Under this commitment, we:

This commitment and the related initiatives we have implemented stem in part from growing sensitivities and regulatory attention to the potential impact that the construction and use of homes can have on the environment, and from our homebuyers’ interest in reducing this impact and in lowering their consumption of energy and water resources and their utility bills. More information about our sustainability commitment can be found in our annual sustainability reports, which we have published on our website since 2008. To date, we are the only national homebuilder to publish a comprehensive annual sustainability report. As we see environmental issues related to housing becoming increasingly important to consumers and government authorities at all levels, we intend to continue to research, evaluate and utilize new or improved products and construction and business practices consistent with our commitment. In addition to making good business sense, we believe our sustainability initiatives can help put us in a better position, compared to resales and homebuilders with less-developed programs, to comply with evolving local, state and federal rules and regulations intended to protect natural resources and to address climate change and similar environmental concerns.

Customer Service and Quality Control

Customer satisfaction is a high priority for us. Our goal is for our customers to be 100% satisfied with their new homes. Our on-site construction supervisors perform regular pre-closing quality checks and our sales representatives maintain regular contact with our homebuyers during the home construction process in an effort to ensure our homes meet our standards and our homebuyers’ expectations. We believe our prompt and courteous responses to homebuyers’ needs throughout the homebuying process help reduce post-closing repair costs, enhance our reputation for quality and service, and help encourage repeat and referral business from homebuyers and the real estate community. We also have employees who are responsible for responding to homebuyers’ post-closing needs, including warranty claims.

We provide a limited warranty on all of our homes. The specific terms and conditions vary depending on the market where we do business. We generally provide a structural warranty of 10 years, a warranty on electrical, heating, cooling, plumbing and other building systems each varying from two to five years based on geographic market and state law, and a warranty of one year for other components of a home.

Local Expertise

To maximize KBnxt’s effectiveness and help ensure its consistent execution, our employees are continuously trained on KBnxt principles and are evaluated based on their achievement of relevant operational objectives. We also believe that our business requires in-depth knowledge of local markets in order to acquire land in preferred locations and on favorable terms, to engage subcontractors, to develop communities that meet local demand, to anticipate consumer tastes in specific markets, and to assess local regulatory environments. Accordingly, we operate our business through divisions with trained personnel who have local market expertise. We have experienced management teams in each of our divisions. Though we centralize certain functions (such as promotional marketing, legal, purchasing administration, product development, architecture and accounting) to benefit from economies of scale, our local management exercises considerable autonomy in identifying land acquisition opportunities, developing and implementing product and sales strategies, and controlling costs.

Community Development and Land Inventory Management

Our community development process generally consists of four phases: land acquisition, land development, home construction and deliveries. Historically, our community development process has ranged from six to 24 months in our West Coast segment, with a somewhat shorter duration in our other homebuilding segments. The community development process varies based on, among other things, the extent of government approvals required, the overall size of a particular community, necessary site preparation activities, the type of product(s) that will be offered, weather conditions, promotional marketing results, consumer demand and local and general economic and housing market conditions.

Although they vary significantly in size and complexity, our communities typically consist of 50 to 250 lots ranging in size from 2,200 to 13,000 square feet. In our communities, we typically offer from three to 15 home design choices. We also generally build one to three model homes at each community so that prospective buyers can preview various products available. Depending on the community, we may offer premium lots containing more square footage, better views and/or location benefits.

The following table summarizes our community count in each of our homebuilding reporting segments:

Land Acquisition and Land Development. We continuously evaluate land acquisition opportunities as they arise against our investment return and marketing standards, balancing competing needs for financial strength, liquidity and land inventory for future growth. When we acquire land, we generally focus on land parcels containing fewer than 250 lots that are fully entitled for residential construction and are either physically developed to start home construction (referred to as “finished lots”) or partially finished. Acquiring finished or partially finished lots enables us to construct and deliver homes with minimal additional development work or expenditures. We believe this is a more efficient way to use our working capital and reduces the operating risks associated with having to develop and/or entitle land, such as unforeseen improvement costs and/or changes in market conditions. However, depending on market conditions and available opportunities, including opportunities to secure certain finished lots, we may acquire undeveloped and/or unentitled land. We expect that the overall balance of undeveloped, unentitled, entitled and finished lots in our inventory will vary over time, and in implementing our strategic growth initiatives, we may acquire a greater proportion of undeveloped or unentitled land in the future.

Consistent with our KBnxt operational business model, we target geographic areas for potential land acquisitions and community development, based on the results of periodic surveys of both new and resale homebuyers in particular markets, prevailing local economic conditions, the supply and type of homes available for sale, and other research activities. Local, in-house land acquisition specialists analyze specific geographic areas to identify desirable land acquisition targets or to evaluate whether to dispose of an existing land interest. We also use studies performed by third-party specialists. Using this internal and external data, some of the factors we consider in evaluating land acquisition targets are consumer preferences; general economic conditions; prevailing and expected home sales activity and the selling prices and pricing trends of comparable new and resale homes in the subject submarket; proximity to metropolitan areas and employment centers; population, household formation and employment and commercial growth patterns; household income levels; availability of developable land parcels at reasonable cost, including estimated costs of completing land development and selling homes; our operational scale and experience in the subject submarket; and environmental compliance matters.

We generally structure our land acquisitions and land development activities to minimize, or to defer the timing of, expenditures, which enhances our returns associated with land-related investments. While we use a variety of techniques to accomplish this, we typically use contracts that give us an option or similar right to acquire land at a future date, usually at a predetermined price and for a small initial option or earnest money deposit payment. These contracts may also permit us to partially develop the underlying land prior to our acquisition. We refer to land subject to such option or similar rights as being “controlled.” Our decision to exercise a particular land option or similar right is based on the results of due diligence and continued market viability analysis we conduct after entering into a contract. In some cases, our decision to exercise a land option or similar right may be conditioned on the land seller obtaining necessary entitlements, such as zoning rights and environmental and development approvals, and/or physically developing the underlying land by a pre-determined date.

In addition, we may acquire land under contracts that condition our acquisition obligation on our satisfaction with the feasibility of developing the subject land and selling homes on the land by a certain future date, consistent with our investment return and marketing standards. Our land option contracts and other similar contracts may also allow us to phase our land acquisitions and/or land development over a period of time and/or upon the satisfaction of certain conditions. We may also acquire land with seller financing that is non-recourse to us, or by working in conjunction with third-party land developers. The use of these land option contracts and other similar contracts generally allows us to reduce the market risks associated with direct land ownership and development, and to reduce our capital and financial commitments, including interest and other carrying costs.

Our land option contracts and other similar contracts generally do not contain provisions requiring our specific performance. However, depending on the circumstances, our initial option or earnest money deposit may or may not be refundable to us if we abandon the related land option contract or other similar contract and do not complete the acquisition of the underlying land. In addition, if we abandon a land option contract or other similar contract, we usually cannot recover the pre-acquisition costs we incurred after we entered into the contract, including those related to our due diligence and other evaluation activities and/or partial development of the subject land, if any.

Before we commit to any land acquisition, our senior corporate and regional management evaluate the asset based on the results of our local specialists’ due diligence, third-party data and a set of defined financial measures, including, but not limited to, housing gross profit margin analyses and specific discounted, after-tax cash flow internal rate of return requirements. The criteria guiding our land acquisition and disposition decisions have resulted in our maintaining inventory in areas that we believe generally offer better returns for lower risk and lower our upfront investment in inventory.

Our inventories include land we are holding for future development, which is comprised of land where we have suspended development activity or development has not yet begun but is expected to occur in the future. These assets held for future development are located in various submarkets where conditions do not presently support further investment or development, or are subject to a building permit moratorium or regulatory restrictions, or are portions of larger land parcels that we plan to build out over several years and/or parcels that have not yet been entitled and, therefore, have an extended development timeline. Land we are holding for future development also includes land where we have deferred development activity based on our belief that we can generate greater returns and/or maximize the economic performance of a community by delaying improvements for a period of time to allow earlier phases of a long-term, multi-phase community or a neighboring community to generate sales momentum or for market conditions to improve.

The following table presents the number of inventory lots we owned, in various stages of development, or controlled under land option contracts and other similar contracts in our homebuilding reporting segments as of November 30, 2012 and 2011 . The table does not include approximately 326 acres owned as of November 30, 2012 and November 30, 2011 that are not currently expected to be approved for subdivision into lots.

Reflecting our geographic diversity and relatively balanced operational footprint, as of November 30, 2012 , 23% of the inventory lots we owned or controlled were located in our West Coast homebuilding reporting segment, 21% were in our Southwest homebuilding reporting segment, 33% were in our Central homebuilding reporting segment and 23% were in our Southeast homebuilding reporting segment.

The following table presents the carrying value of inventory we owned, in various stages of development, or controlled under land option contracts and other similar contracts in our homebuilding reporting segments as of November 30, 2012 and 2011 (in thousands):

Home Construction and Deliveries. Following the acquisition of land and, if necessary, the development of the land into finished lots, we typically begin constructing model homes and marketing homes for sale. The time required for construction of our homes depends on the weather, time of year, availability of local trade labor and building materials and other factors. To minimize the costs and risks of unsold homes in production, we generally begin construction of a home only when we have a signed purchase contract with a homebuyer. However, cancellations of home purchase contracts prior to the delivery of the underlying homes, the construction of attached products with some unsold units or specific strategic considerations, will result in our having unsold homes in production.

We act as the general contractor for the majority of our communities and hire experienced subcontractors to supply the trade labor and to procure some of the building materials required for all production activities. Our contracts with our subcontractors require that they comply with all laws applicable to their work, including labor laws, meet performance standards, and follow local building codes and permits. We have established national and regional purchasing programs for certain building materials, appliances, fixtures and other items to take advantage of economies of scale and garner better pricing and more reliable supply and, where available, participate in manufacturers’ or suppliers’ rebate programs. At all stages of production, our administrative and on-site supervisory personnel coordinate the activities of subcontractors to meet our production schedules and quality standards.

Backlog

We sell our homes under standard purchase contracts, which generally require a homebuyer to pay a deposit at the time of signing. The amount of the deposit required varies among markets and communities. Homebuyers also may be required to pay additional deposits when they select design options for their homes. Most of our home purchase contracts stipulate that if a homebuyer cancels a contract with us, we have the right to retain the homebuyer’s deposits. However, we generally permit our homebuyers to cancel their obligations and obtain refunds of all or a portion of their deposits in the event mortgage financing cannot be obtained within a certain period of time, as specified in their contract. We define our cancellation rate in a given period as the total number of contracts for new homes canceled divided by the total new (gross) orders for homes during the same period. For further discussion of our cancellation rates and the factors affecting our cancellation rates, see below under “Item 1A. Risk Factors” and “Part II — Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.”

Our “backlog” consists of homes that are under a home purchase contract but have not yet been delivered to a homebuyer. Ending backlog represents the number of homes in backlog from the previous period plus the number of net orders (new orders for homes less cancellations) generated during the current period minus the number of homes delivered during the current period. Our backlog at any given time will be affected by cancellations and by our community count. The number of homes delivered has historically increased from the first to the fourth quarter in any year.

Our backlog at November 30, 2012 consisted of 2,577 homes, an increase of 20% from the 2,156 homes in backlog at November 30, 2011 . Our backlog at November 30, 2012 represented potential future housing revenues of approximately $618.6 million , a 35% increase from potential future housing revenues of approximately $459.0 million at November 30, 2011 , resulting from the higher number of homes in backlog and a higher overall average selling price. Our backlog ratio, defined as homes delivered in the quarter as a percentage of backlog at the beginning of the quarter, will vary from quarter to quarter, depending on what portion of our backlog is under construction, and how many unsold homes we may sell and close within a quarter.

Our net orders for the year ended November 30, 2012 increased to 6,703 from 6,632 for the year ended November 30, 2011 , representing the second consecutive year that full-year net orders have increased from the previous year. The value of the net orders we generated for the year ended November 30, 2012 increased 15% to $1.73 billion from $1.51 billion in the prior year. Our cancellation rate for the year was 31% in 2012 , compared to a cancellation rate of 29% in 2011 . Our cancellation rate was 35% in the fourth quarter of 2012 , compared to 34% in the fourth quarter of 2011 .

The following tables present homes delivered, net orders and cancellation rates by homebuilding reporting segment for each quarter during the years ended November 30, 2012 and 2011 , and our ending backlog at the end of each quarter within those years:

Land and Raw Materials

Based on our current strategic plans, we strive to own or control land sufficient to meet our forecasted production goals for the next three to five years. As discussed above under “Strategy,” in 2013 we intend to acquire additional land subject to conditions in the housing markets, the overall economy and the capital, credit and financial markets. However, we may also decide to sell certain land or land interests as part of our marketing strategy or for other reasons.

The principal raw materials used in the construction of our homes are concrete and forest products. In addition, we use a variety of other construction materials in the homebuilding process, including drywall and plumbing and electrical items. We attempt to enhance the efficiency of our operations by using, where practical, standardized materials that are commercially available on competitive terms from a variety of sources. In addition, our national and regional purchasing programs for certain building

materials, appliances, fixtures and other items allow us to benefit from large quantity purchase discounts and, where available, manufacturer or supplier rebates. When possible, we arrange for bulk purchases of these products at favorable prices from manufacturers and suppliers. Although our purchasing strategies have helped us in negotiating favorable prices for raw materials, in 2012, we encountered higher prices for lumber, drywall, concrete and other materials, and labor due to increased residential construction activity, and we expect to see additional cost increases if and as the present housing recovery progresses, as discussed further below under “Competition, Seasonality, Delivery Mix and Other Factors.”

Customer Financing

Our homebuyers may obtain mortgage financing to purchase our homes from any provider of their choice. We do not directly offer mortgage banking services or originate residential consumer mortgage loans (“mortgage loans”) for our customers. Prior to late June 2011, KBA Mortgage, LLC (“KBA Mortgage”), a former unconsolidated mortgage banking joint venture of a subsidiary of ours and a subsidiary of Bank of America, N.A., provided mortgage banking services to a significant proportion of our homebuyers. KBA Mortgage ceased offering mortgage banking services after June 30, 2011.

Since the third quarter of 2011, we have had a marketing services agreement with a preferred mortgage lender that offers mortgage banking services, including mortgage loan originations, to our homebuyers who elect to use the lender. The mortgage banking services are described further below under “Part II — Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations — Financial Services Segment.” Our preferred mortgage lender and its respective parent company are not affiliates of ours or any of our subsidiaries. We do not have any ownership, joint venture or other interests in or with our preferred mortgage lender or its respective parent company or with respect to the revenues or income that may be generated from our preferred mortgage lender providing mortgage banking services to, or originating mortgage loans for, our homebuyers. Until the first quarter of 2012, our preferred mortgage lender was MetLife Home Loans, a division of MetLife Bank, N.A., which announced in January 2012 that it was ceasing to offer forward mortgage banking services as part of its business. In March 2012, Nationstar Mortgage LLC (“Nationstar”) became our preferred mortgage lender. Nationstar began accepting new mortgage loan applications from our homebuyers on May 1, 2012.

Employees

We employ a trained staff of land acquisition specialists, architects, planners, engineers, construction supervisors, marketing and sales personnel, and finance and accounting personnel, supplemented as necessary by outside consultants, who guide the development of our communities from their conception through the promotional marketing and delivery of completed homes.

At both December 31, 2012 and 2011, we had approximately 1,200 full-time employees. None of our employees are represented by a collective bargaining agreement.

Competition, Seasonality, Delivery Mix and Other Factors

The homebuilding industry and housing market are highly competitive with respect to selling homes; hiring trade labor, such as carpenters, roofers, electricians and plumbers; and acquiring attractive developable land. We compete for homebuyers, skilled trade workers and management talent and desirable land against numerous homebuilders, ranging from regional and national firms to small local enterprises. As to homebuyers, we primarily compete with other homebuilders on the basis of selling price, community location, availability of financing options, design, reputation, quality and amenities, including within larger residential development projects containing separate sections designed, planned and developed by such other homebuilders. In addition, we compete for homebuyers against housing alternatives other than new homes, including resale homes, apartments, single-family rentals and other rental housing. In certain markets and at times when housing demand is high, we also compete with other homebuilders and commercial and remodeling contractors to hire skilled trade labor, primarily on the basis of preexisting relationships, contract price and volume and consistency of available work. During the housing downturn, many skilled workers left construction for other industries, and in markets where there was increased residential construction activity in 2012, the smaller workforce and higher demand for trade labor created shortages of certain skilled workers, driving up costs and/or extending land development and home construction schedules. This elevated residential construction activity also caused notable increases in the cost of certain building materials, such as lumber, drywall and concrete, reflecting in part a smaller supplier base and lower production capacity than existed before the housing downturn. In 2012, we also saw higher prices for desirable land amid heightened competition with homebuilders and other developers and investors, particularly in the land-constrained areas we are strategically targeting. We expect these upward trends in construction labor, building materials and land costs to continue, and possibly intensify, in 2013 if and as the present housing recovery progresses and there is greater competition for these resources.

Our performance is affected by seasonal demand trends for housing. Traditionally, there has been more consumer demand for home purchases and we tend to generate more net orders in the mid- to late-spring and early summer months (corresponding to most of our second and part of our third quarters) than at other times of the year. With our Built to Order approach and typical

home construction cycle times, this “selling season” demand results in our delivering more homes and generating higher revenues from late summer through the fall months (corresponding to part of our third and our fourth quarters). On a relative basis, the winter and early spring months within our first and part of our second quarters usually produce the fewest net orders, homes delivered and revenues, and the sequential difference from our fourth quarter to our first quarter can be significant. During the housing downturn and in 2012, these seasonal trends were somewhat less pronounced, and our overall net orders, homes delivered and revenues were generally lower than before the housing downturn. We currently expect the traditional seasonality cycle and its impact on our results to become more prominent if and as the present housing recovery progresses and the housing markets and homebuilding industry return to a more normal operating environment.

In addition to the overall volume of homes we sell and deliver, our results in a given period are significantly affected by the geographic mix of submarkets in which we operate; the number and characteristics of the new home communities we have open for sales in those submarkets; and the products we sell from those communities during the period. While there are some similarities, there are differences within and between our served markets and submarkets in terms of the quantity, size and nature of the new home communities we operate and the products we offer to consumers. These differences reflect, among other things, local homebuyer preferences; household demographics ( e.g. , large families or working professionals; income levels); and geographic context ( e.g. , urban or suburban; availability of reasonably-priced finished lots; development constraints; residential density), and the shifts that can occur in these factors over time. These structural factors in each market and submarket will affect the costs we incur and the time it takes to locate, acquire rights to and develop land, open new home communities for sales and market and build homes; the size of our homes; our selling prices (including the contribution from homebuyers’ purchases of design options); and the pace at which we sell homes and close out communities. Therefore, our results in any given period will fluctuate compared to other periods based on the proportion of homes delivered from areas with higher or lower selling prices and on the corresponding land and overhead costs incurred to generate those deliveries, as well as from our overall community count. In 2012, we targeted opening more of our new home communities for sales in higher-performing, choice locations — predominately in land-constrained areas that feature higher household incomes — where customers are more likely to choose larger home sizes and purchase more design options, key drivers for our home selling prices and housing gross profit margins. Due in part to this strategic focus, in the second, third and fourth quarters of 2012, we posted favorable year-over-year results in revenues as we delivered more homes from these submarkets. At the same time, we had modest year-over-year growth in net orders in each period due largely to sequential declines in our overall community count, as we closed out older communities more quickly than we were able to develop and open new communities in our strategically-targeted areas. In 2013, we plan to continue our approach of opening new home communities for sales in locations with the above-described demand characteristics, and we anticipate that we will have more new home communities open for sales than we did in 2012.

Financing

We do not generally finance the development of our communities with project financing. By “project financing,” we mean proceeds of loans from parties other than land sellers that are specifically obtained for, or secured by, particular communities or other inventory assets. Instead, our operations have historically been funded by results of operations, public debt and equity financing. Depending on market conditions in 2013, we may obtain project financing, or secure external financing with community or other inventory assets that we own or control. We may also arrange or engage in equity or debt capital markets, bank loan, credit facility, project debt or other financial transactions. These transactions may include repurchases from time to time of our outstanding senior notes or other debt through tender offers, exchange offers, private exchanges, open market purchases or other means, and may include potential new issuances of equity or senior notes or other debt through public offerings, private placements or other arrangements to raise new capital for land acquisition, land development and other business purposes and/or to effect repurchases of our outstanding senior notes or other debt. Our ability to engage in such financial transactions, however, may be constrained by economic or capital markets or bank lending conditions, investor interest and/or our current leverage ratios, and we can provide no assurance of the success or costs of any such transactions.

Environmental Compliance Matters

As part of our due diligence process for land acquisitions, we often use third-party environmental consultants to investigate potential environmental risks, and we require disclosures and representations and warranties from land sellers regarding environmental risks. Despite these efforts, there can be no assurance that we will avoid material liabilities relating to the existence or removal of toxic wastes, site restoration, monitoring or other environmental matters affecting properties currently or previously owned or controlled by us. No estimate of any potential liabilities can be made although we may, from time to time, acquire property that requires us to incur environmental clean-up costs after conducting appropriate due diligence, including, but not limited to, using detailed investigations performed by environmental consultants. In such instances, we take steps prior to acquisition of the land to gain reasonable assurance as to the precise scope of work required and the costs associated with removal, site restoration and/or monitoring. To the extent contamination or other environmental issues have occurred in the past, we will attempt to recover restoration costs from third parties, such as the generators of hazardous waste, land sellers or others in the prior

chain of title and/or their insurers. Based on these practices, we anticipate that it is unlikely that environmental clean-up costs will have a material effect on our consolidated financial statements. We have not been notified by any governmental agency of any claim that any of the properties owned or formerly owned by us are identified by the EPA as being a “Superfund” clean-up site requiring remediation, which could have a material effect on our future consolidated financial statements. Costs associated with the use of environmental consultants are not material to our consolidated financial statements.

Access to Our Information

We file annual, quarterly and current reports, proxy statements and other information with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). We make our public SEC filings available, at no cost, through our investor relations website at www.investor.kbhome.com, as soon as reasonably practicable after the report is electronically filed with, or furnished to, the SEC. We will also provide these reports in electronic or paper format free of charge upon request made to our investor relations department at investorrelations@kbhome.com or at our principal executive offices. We intend for our investor relations website to be the primary location where investors and the general public can obtain announcements regarding and can learn more about our financial and operational performance, business plans and prospects, and our board of directors, our senior executive management team, and our corporate governance policies, including our articles of incorporation, by-laws, corporate governance principles, board committee charters, and ethics policy. We webcast and archive quarterly earnings calls and other investor events in which we participate or host, and post related materials, on our investor relations website. Interested persons can register on our investor relations website to receive prompt notifications of new SEC filings, press releases and other information posted there. However, the content available on or through our primary website at www.kbhome.com or our investor relations website, including our sustainability reports, is not incorporated by reference in this report or in any other filing we make with the SEC. Our references in our SEC filings or otherwise to materials posted on or to any content available on or through our websites are intended to be inactive textual or oral references only. Our SEC filings are also available to the public over the Internet at the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. The public may also read and copy any document we file at the SEC’s public reference room located at 100 F Street N.E., Washington, D.C. 20549. Please call the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330 for further information on the operation of the public reference room.