DR Horton, the largest US housebuilder by sales volume, reported its first operating loss on Tuesday as it was forced to write down the value of its land holdings.

DR Horton posted a much larger loss than expected of $1.31bn, or $4.14 per share, against a profit of $51.7m, or 16 cents per share, a year ago. The loss came because of pre-tax land-related charges of $834m on $2bn of projects, which pushed the company to a $51m operating loss.