Struggling homebuilder Beazer Homes USA Inc. said Tuesday its fiscal fourth-quarter loss more than tripled, and the chief executive told Wall Street he expects losses will likely continue through 2009.

Ian J. McCarthy, CEO of Atlanta-based Beazer, told analysts that despite uncertainty over the depth of the economic downturn, “we should realistically expect that both (home sales) and average sales prices will be lower in fiscal 2009 and that we will again likely incur a loss for the year.”

The loss for the quarter ended Sept. 30 totaled $473.9 million, or $12.29 a share, compared with a year-ago loss of $155.2 million, or $4.03 a share. The loss from continuing operations totaled $12.32 a share in the latest period.

Beazer said revenue fell 35 percent to $712.6 million from $1.09 billion because completed home sales tumbled 38 percent.

In addition, the company’s income tax provision swelled to $334.9 million versus a tax gain of $76.6 million last year.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected a loss of $2.10 per share on revenue of $593.4 million.

The homebuilder said demand for new homes continues to be hurt by low consumer confidence, falling prices, high levels of unsold new and existing homes and less access to mortgage financing.

“Conditions in both the overall economy and housing market came under greater pressure during our fourth quarter and have continued to deteriorate since that time,” McCarthy said in a statement.

The builder said new orders rose 10 percent to 1,083 homes, driven largely by a lower cancellation rate of 46 percent during the period.

Completed sales contracts plunged 38 percent versus a year ago to 2,441 homes. Closed contracts fell in all the regions where Beazer operates, but the sharpest declines were in the Southeast and in markets the builder has begun to exit, such as Columbus, Ohio; Denver; and Fresno, Calif.

As of Sept. 30, Beazer’s backlog totaled 1,358 homes with a sales value of $326.6 million, compared with 2,985 homes with a sales value of $838.8 million a year ago.

Like other builders, Beazer has been focusing on generating cash, and ended the quarter with $584.3 million, up from $454.3 million a year earlier.

For the full fiscal year, Beazer’s loss widened to $951.9 million, or $24.69 per share. That compares with a loss of $411.1 million, or $10.70 per share, in fiscal 2007.

Total revenue for the year fell to $2.07 billion from $3.47 billion in the same period a year ago.