Exhibit Number      Exhibit
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99.1                Press Release dated September 20, 2000
                         Press Release

                    September 20, 2000 Red Bank, New Jersey -- Hovnanian
                    Enterprises, Inc. (AMEX:HOV) today announced that it plans
                    to offer $150 million of senior notes due 2007, through a
                    private placement to qualified institutional buyers. The
                    notes will not be registered under the Securities Act and
                    may not be offered or sold in the United States without
                    registration or an applicable exemption from the
                    registration requirements under the Act.

                    Hovnanian Enterprises, Inc. designs, constructs and markets
                    single-family homes, townhomes and condominiums in planned
                    residential communities in New Jersey, North Carolina,
                    Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland, New York, California,
                    Texas and Florida in the United States, and in Poland.