Luxury homebuilder Toll Brothers Inc posted a narrower-than-expected quarterly loss, but said it would not give earnings outlook due to several uncertainties related to its business.

Second-quarter net loss was $83.2 million, or 52 cents a share, compared with a net loss of $93.7 million, or 59 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter.

The latest quarter results included pre-tax write downs of $119.6 million, or 48 cents a share. Excluding that, Toll posted a loss of 3 cents a share.

Analysts on average were expecting a loss of 50 cents a share, excluding items, on revenue of $399.4 million, according to Reuters Estimates.

Revenue for the quarter fell 51 percent to $398.3 million, while order backlog decreased 55 percent to $944.3 million. Net signed contracts dropped 40 percent $298.3 million.

With interest rates near historic lows and housing affordability near historic highs, it appears that some buyers are beginning to re-enter the new home market, Chief Executive Robert Toll said in a statement.

For 2009, Toll expects to deliver 2,200 to 2,800 homes, at an average delivered price of about $590,000 and $620,000 per home.

Although cancellations appear to be leveling off, we believe that concerns about job security and the economy continue to inhibit traffic and the conversion of deposits to contracts, Toll said.

Shares of the company closed at $19.53 Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange.

(Reporting by Esha Dey and Amulya Nagaraj in Bangalore; Editing by Jarshad Kakkrakandy)