Avatar moves up 21 spots in poll of National Housing Giants

April 27, 2006

Fueled primarily by the strong sales and closings of its subsidiary company Avatar Properties Inc. and its home building activities in Central Florida, Avatar Holdings Inc. moved up 21 spots to 65th in Professional Builder magazine’s 2006 list of America’s top 400 housing giants.

Avatar’s Central Florida Division, which is currently developing Poinciana, Solivita, Bellalago and the Isles of Bellalago, accounted for 1,703 (89%) of the company’s 1,914 closings for the year, and contributed $416 million (93%) of the company’s $445.5 million in total dollar volume of housing units closed for 2005.

Poinciana, the 47,000-acre master-planned community in northwest Osceola and northeast Polk counties that includes Avatar’s award-winning active-adult community of Solivita, accounted for 1,384 (72%) of the company’s residential closings in 2005. Bellalago, the company’s upscale gated community with over a mile of shoreline on Lake Tohopekaliga, accounted for 319 closings, or 16.7% of the company’s residential closings last year. Additional residential closings were generated by Avatar’s various subsidiaries in South Florida and Arizona.

The Coral Gables-based builder-developer, which made the third biggest jump among the top 65 builders in this year’s poll, has moved up 50 spots in the poll over the past three years.

Rankings in Professional Builder’s 39th annual Giant 400 poll were calculated on total closings and new residential revenue for 2005.

For more information, contact Bill Cowart, president of Avatar’s primary home building operations in Florida and Arizona, at (407) 933-5000 or (800) 755-0545.

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Avatar Holdings Inc. is a publicly-traded company that is primarily engaged in real estate operations in Florida and Arizona. Avatar’s common shares trade on The Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol “AVTR”.

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