BUSINESS BRIEFING / HOME BUILDING

Centex Corp., the second-biggest U.S. home builder by sales, plans to write down as much as $600 million in the fiscal third quarter as land values plummeted.

Net sales fell 80% from a year earlier to 1,080 units, the Dallas-based company said in a preliminary earnings statement. Closings declined 49% to 3,405 units. The backlog fell 46% to 4,628.