shares of toll brothers inc rose after hours on tuesday after the homebuilder reported betterthanexpected quarterly results and said homebuying appetites had improved in the current quarter after higher rates led to a stallout in the market “as mortgage rates have stabilized and buyer confidence has improved the increase in demand that began in january has continued through our second fiscal quarter and into the start of our third quarter” chief executive douglas yearley said in a statement the company also forecast more deliveries or the handover of a home to its owner than expected for the third quarter and full year toll brothers said it expects deliveries of 2350 units to 2450 units for the third quarter and 8900 units to 9500 units during the full year with both projections above wall street’s forecasts for its fiscal second quarter toll brothers tol reported net income of 3202 million or 285 a share compared with 2206 million or 185 a share in the same quarter last year home sales came in at 249 billion up 14 from 219 billion in the prioryear quarter deliveries came in at 2492 up 4 analysts polled by factset expected earnings of 191 a share on revenue of 206 billion shares were up 32 in afterhours trade on tuesday housing demand has been hit by higher mortgage rates over the past year but prices at times have been propped up by a decline in the number of homeowners putting their homes up for sale after securing a better mortgage rate during the pandemic yearley however cast the short supply of available homes as a benefit to the industry “there continues to be a substantial shortage of homes for sale in the us as housing starts have not kept up with population growth for at least the past 15 years” he said “now the supply of homes for sale is being further limited by a historically tight resale market as homeowners are reluctant to give up their lowrate mortgages” “we believe the resulting supplydemand imbalance will continue well into the future adding to the longterm tailwinds that have supported the housing industry in recent years” he continued “these include favorable demographics migration trends and more flexible work arrangements”