Shares in KB Home rose a bit Monday after the company said it expects “increased momentum” in demand for its Martha Stewart-branded communities.

“Demand is there,” Jeffrey Mezger, the company’s chief executive, said, speaking at a conference Monday.

The co-branded home designs, named after the domestic maven, are available in nine communities from North Carolina to Southern California.

In order to make the homes more appealing to potential buyers, Los Angeles-based KB has lowered the average sales price of a home about 12 percent to less than $260,000, the company said.

This announcement comes after Ray Irani, the chief executive of nearby oil company Occidental Petroleum Corp., resigned from KB’s board after serving on it for 15 years. No reason for Irani’s departure was given.

Shares in KB Home were up 1.2 percent Monday to $25.12 after dropping more than 3 percent Friday.