Builder Standard Pacific Shares Up 18.3%

Shares of Standard Pacific Corp., a Costa Mesa-based builder of upscale homes, surged Tuesday on expectations that the company will benefit from California’s hot housing market.

The stock rose 18.3%, or $2 a share, to $12.94 after Salomon Smith Barney analyst David Dwyer rated the company a “buy.” Dwyer put the company’s 12-month target price at $18. At one point during the session, the shares reached $13.31.

Volume totaled 875,400 shares, more than triple the daily average over the last three months.

“The stock is still largely a pure play on California, a market,” Dwyer said in a research note.

Standard Pacific has benefited from a booming housing market that has pushed up new construction to record levels this year. It is also taking advantage of a growing economy in California that’s increasing demand for large, upscale homes.

A report last month by First American Real Estate Solutions, a nationwide real estate information company, said home values are 21% higher than in 1990. It said six of the top 10 price-growth areas in the third quarter were in California, led by Orange County and San Diego.