Hovnanian Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE:HOV) CEO Ara K. Hovnanian said the homebuilder has endured many market corrections in its 50-year history and remains confident it will emerge a “better, stronger” company when the market recovers. Hovnanian made the comments during a midday conference call.

“One thing is certain – homebuilding is here to stay. Virtually every demographer and actuary agree that the population and number of households are growing at a faster pace this decade and the next than any of the last three decades,” the chief executive said. “This should ultimately lead to greater housing demand than in the past.”

Citing the cyclical nature of the market, Hovnanian said the housing market will eventually recover to more normalized levels. The CEO said another positive development for the Red Bank, N.J.-based firm is that many companies are leaving the housing market.

“There are far fewer competitors in the housing industry, as under-capitalized private builders are closing their doors all around the country each and every month. Many of the private builders that do survive will be severely constrained,” Hovnanian said. “Increasing demand and greatly reduced competition creates a very favorable financial environment for the remaining homebuilders that have ample liquidity.”

The homebuilder is implementing a multi-pronged strategy to increase liquidity, the CEO said. To increase cash flow from operations, Hovnanian said the firm has reduced overhead costs and is spending less on land and land development than the company. Selling common shares to investors as a secondary offering was another strategy the firm has used to increase liquidity, Hovnanian said.

“Through the combination of our ability to generate cash internally together with the issuance of secured bonds and an amendment to our credit facility, we have essentially taken liquidity concerns about our company off the table,” Hovnanian said.

Hovnanian reported late Tuesday that its second-quarter loss widened to $340.7 million, or $5.29 per share, compared with a loss of $28.1 million, or $0.49 per share, a year earlier. The results were worse than Wall Street’s consensus estimate of losing $2.64 a share.

Quarterly revenue declined 30% to $776.4 million from $1.11 billion a year earlier. Wall Street analysts projected revenue of $760 million.

“The homebuilding industry continues to face challenging market conditions,” Hovnanian said. “During these tough market conditions, our focus has remained on reducing inventories, reducing costs, generating positive cash flow and improving liquidity of the company.”

The total number of contracts during the second quarter fell 29% to 2,226 homes from a year earlier.

In afternoon trading, HOV shares are down 9.59% to $7.54.