U.S. homebuilder shares are poised for their biggest weekly gain since 1995, as investors and analysts say the market for new homes may have hit bottom, Bloomberg reported today.

Standard Pacific Corp. and Lennar Corp. led Standard & Poor’s measure of U.S. home builders up as much as 8.6 percent this morning after rising 25 percent during the previous three days.

Home-building shares rose for the seventh consecutive trading day after analysts at Pali Capital Inc. and Raymond James & Associates Inc. raised their ratings on some companies amid expectations that U.S. government action, including the Federal Reserve’s interest rate cut this week, will boost demand for housing.

“We will say right up front that, just like with the rest of the industry, the sun is not shining very brightly, but at least the worst of the storm has likely passed,” Stephen East, an analyst at Pali Research, wrote today in his report on Lennar.

Lennar, which reported the biggest quarterly loss in its history yesterday, gained as much as 21 percent after Pali raised its rating on the shares to “neutral”‘ from “sell” as the Miami-based builder reduced inventory and generated cash flow.

Lennar rose $1.72, or 11 percent, to $17.93 at 8:59 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The builder, founded in 1954, reported yesterday a fiscal fourth-quarter net loss of $1.25 billion, or $7.92 a share, as revenue fell 49 percent to $2.18 billion. The company also recorded $1.86 billion in expenses as the deteriorating housing market forced it to write down land and walk away from options on property.

The builder index had risen 25 percent in the holiday-shortened week 25 percent through yesterday, topping the previous one-week record of 16 percent set in April 1999. U.S. stock markets were closed Monday for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.

Irvine, Calif.-based Standard Pacific, which sells houses in eight states, rose 38 cents, or 13 percent, to $3.38.