Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
(Operator Instructions). Your first question is Joel Locker with FTN Securities. Please go ahead.
Joel Locker - FTN Securities
Hi, guys. Good job on the cash flow. Just wanted to talk about your backlog conversion rate in Florida; it jumped up to 116% versus a year ago, it was 42%. Was that just a lot of specs being closed there or--?
Phil Creek
That was the biggest reason Joel. A lot of specs are being sold and closed. You also probably noticed that our spec level did come down quite a bit compared to the end of last year. So, yes, that's the primary reason.
Joel Locker - FTN Securities
Right. And your housing gross margin or maybe just your gross profit on your housing revenue, just trying to single that out from you on the regular gross margin of the land revenue or the other revenue. So if you had $131 million or so in housing revenue, what was the gross profit from just the home building?
Phil Creek
Well, we stated in the call was that if you ignore the impairment and those type things, our gross margins were about 15%.
Joel Locker - FTN Securities
About 15%.
Phil Creek
And that compares to 21% a year ago.
Joel Locker - FTN Securities
And I guess just one last question on your just prior impairments, do you have a number of how many of those were reversed in the first quarter?
Phil Creek
Yeah. The number we said in the call was 6.
Joel Locker - FTN Securities
6 million or so. Okay. Thanks a lot. I will jump back in a queue.
Phil Creek
Thanks Joel.
Operator
Thank you. Your next question is coming from Lee Brading with Wachovia.
Lee Brading - Wachovia Securities
Hi, guys.
Phil Creek
Hi, Lee.
Bob Schottenstein
Hi Lee.
Lee Brading - Wachovia Securities
You gave helpful information on given the monthly trends and couldn't help but notice the difference between going from February to March. So I was wondering if you could comment if there's anything in particular there, and then so if could you give any comment on April at this point?
Phil Creek
Are you talking about sales?
Lee Brading - Wachovia Securities
Well, yes, both, I mean I guess sales and traffic were the same in February?
Phil Creek
First of all, I think conditions are very difficult. And as a result, it's not only hard but it’s probably unwise to try to speculate because of just the erratic nature of the market now and the tremendous lack of confidence that is encumbering buyers. But two things about March and over half our markets, we lost almost a full week of sales, particularly in the Midwest with a 100 year winter storm which shut down our operations from Thursday to nearly Monday in three of our cities. And that did not help. Not to mention the fact that Easter was in March this year, whereas typically it's in April. And that might have resulted in a slight skewing of the numbers. We'd like to think in the end it all works its way through the system. But typically March is the month that you don't have that kind of interference and we had two weekends where business was next to nothing.
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