KB Home reported a narrower loss for its fiscal first quarter, as new home sales and prices improved amid the nationwide recovery of the housing market.

The Los Angeles homebuilder on Thursday reported a net loss of $12.5 million (-16 cents a share) for the quarter ended Feb. 28, 73 percent (43 cents) smaller than in the same period a year earlier. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters on average had expected a loss of 22 cents a share.

Revenue rose 59 percent to $405 million, with the average selling price up 24 percent to $271,300.

KB Home builds homes in California, Texas and eight other states. Net orders, a key industry metric, rose 40 percent to 1,671 homes. The company, which is the nation’s the fifth-largest homebuilder, plans to open more than 120 new communities during the fiscal year and invest more than $1 billion on land acquisition and development.

“We are confident that we will achieve our profitability goal for 2013,” Chief Executive Jeff Mezger said in a statement.

Shares closed up 53 cents, or 2.5 percent, to $22.10 on the New York Stock Exchange.