8-K

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

FORM 8-K

CURRENT REPORT

PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE

SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

Date of report (Date of earliest event reported): April 5, 2004

WILLIAM LYON HOMES

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Delaware	0-18001	33-0864902
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization	(Commission file number)	(I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)

4490 Von Karman Avenue Newport Beach, California	92660 (Zip Code)
(Address of principal executive offices)

(949) 833-3600

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

Not Applicable

(Former name and former address if changed since last report)

INFORMATION TO BE INCLUDED IN THE REPORT

Item 7.    Exhibits

(c)  Exhibits

The following exhibit is not filed but furnished pursuant to Item 12, “Results of Operations and Financial Condition”:

Exhibit No.	Description
99.1	Press Release issued on April 5, 2004 announcing preliminary net new home orders and backlog for the fiscal quarter ended March 31, 2004.

Item 12.    Results of Operations and Financial Condition

The information in this Current Report on Form 8-K, including the exhibit, is furnished pursuant to Item 12, “Results of Operations and Financial Condition” and shall not be deemed “filed” for the purposes of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or otherwise subject to liability under that Section. Furthermore, the information in this Current Report on Form 8-K, including the exhibit, shall not be deemed to be incorporated by reference into the filings of William Lyon Homes under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.

On April 5, 2004 William Lyon Homes issued a press release announcing its preliminary net new home orders and backlog for the fiscal quarter ended March 31, 2004. A copy of the press release is furnished as Exhibit 99.1 to this report.

SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.

Date: April 6, 2004

WILLIAM LYON HOMES
By:	/s/    MICHAEL D. GRUBBS
Name: Its:	Michael D. Grubbs Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer

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EXHIBIT INDEX

Exhibit No.	Description
99.1	Press Release issued on April 5, 2004 announcing preliminary net new home orders and backlog for the fiscal quarter ended March 31, 2004.

EX-99.1

EXHIBIT 99.1

Contact: Investor Relations

W. Douglass Harris

William Lyon Homes

(949) 833-3600

WILLIAM LYON HOMES REPORTS RECORD FIRST QUARTER ORDERS,

UP 44%, AND RECORD FIRST QUARTER BACKLOG, UP 64%

NEWPORT BEACH, CA—April 5, 2004—William Lyon Homes (NYSE: WLS) announced today preliminary net new home orders and backlog information for the three months ended March 31, 2004 which were at record levels.

Net new home orders for the three months ended March 31, 2004 were 1,092, a record for any quarter in the Company’s history and an increase of 44% as compared to 757 for the three months ended March 31, 2003.

The Company’s backlog of homes sold but not closed was 1,755 at March 31, 2004, a record for any first quarter in the Company’s history and an increase of 64% as compared to 1,069 at March 31, 2003.

	Three Months Ended March 31,
	2004	2003
Number of net new home orders:
California	834	500
Arizona	107	98
Nevada	151	159
	1,092	757
Average number of sales locations during period:
California	33	23
Arizona	5	6
Nevada	6	6
	44	35
Backlog of homes sold but not closed at end of period:
California	1,272	691
Arizona	252	187
Nevada	231	191
	1,755	1,069

The Company’s net new home orders for the three months ended March 31, 2004 include 344 homes from 14 joint venture communities, compared to 164 homes from 7 joint venture communities in the three months ended March 31, 2003.

The Company’s number of net new home orders per average sales location increased to 24.8 for the three months ended March 31, 2004 as compared to 21.6 for the three months ended March 31, 2003.

The Company’s cancellation rate for the three months ended March 31, 2004 was 12% as compared to 16% for the three months ended March 31, 2003.

William Lyon Homes is primarily engaged in the design, construction and sale of single family detached and attached homes in California, Arizona and Nevada and at March 31, 2004 had 47 sales locations. The Company’s corporate headquarters are located in Newport Beach, California. For more information about the Company and its new home developments, please visit the Company’s website at www.lyonhomes.com.

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Certain statements contained in this release that are not historical information contain forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and actual results may differ materially from those projected or implied. Further, certain forward-looking statements are based on assumptions regarding future events which may not prove to be accurate. Factors that may impact such forward-looking statements include, among others, changes in general economic conditions and in the markets in which the Company competes, the outbreak, continuation or escalation of war or other hostilities, including terrorism, involving the United States, changes in mortgage and other interest rates, changes in prices of homebuilding materials, weather, the occurrence of events such as landslides, soil subsidence and earthquakes that are uninsurable, not economically insurable or not subject to effective indemnification agreements, the availability of labor and homebuilding materials, changes in governmental laws and regulations, the timing of receipt of regulatory approvals and the opening of projects, and the availability and cost of land for future development, as well as the other factors discussed in the Company’s reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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