By Venessa Wong and Peter Coy

Cash as Share of Total Assets

The real estate business has been brutalized over the past two years, and few players in the sector have had a worse time of it than homebuilders. Many of them have seen their share price and market cap plunge to historic lows. A number of smaller players have gone out of business. But now that there are signs of life in the housing industry, some homebuilders could be positioned for a strong rebound. That is, of course, if they can afford to. Now more than ever, cash is king and those companies that have the largest cash reserves are in position to capitalize on their competitors' weakness. It's not just a question of which company has the most cash, however. Bigger companies may have more, but they also have more liabilities. That's why Bloomberg BusinessWeek decided to divide their cash by their total assets to see which company really has the biggest potential war chest, relatively speaking. Our No. 1? Reston (Va.)-based NVR Inc.

To see the rest of the most cash-rich U.S. homebuilders, read on.