Exhibit 99.1

WILLIAM LYON HOMES REPORTS FOURTH QUARTER AND FULL YEAR 2016 RESULTS

30% INCREASE IN HOMEBUILDING REVENUE; 20% INCREASE IN DELIVERIES; AND 18% INCREASE IN PRE-TAX INCOME, FOR THE FULL YEAR 2016

NEWPORT BEACH, CA— February 22, 2017 — William Lyon Homes (NYSE: WLH), a leading homebuilder in the Western U.S., announced results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2016.

2016 Fourth Quarter Highlights (Comparison to 2015 Fourth Quarter)

2016 Full Year Highlights (Comparison to 2015 Full Year)

“2016 was a year of continued growth for William Lyon Homes, as we delivered 2,781 homes and achieved homebuilding revenues of $1.4 billion, up 20% and 30%, respectively, and at their highest levels in ten years. Our fourth quarter of 2016 represented another quarter of consistent year-over-year growth across a number of important financial and operational metrics, with homebuilding revenues of $473.2 million, up 19%, new home deliveries of 902 homes, up 11%, average sales price of $524,600, up 7%, and the dollar value of orders of $284.1 million, up 17%. We achieved pre-tax income of $40.4 million for the fourth quarter, up 6%, resulting in net income available to common stockholders of $23.1 million, or $0.60 per diluted share,” said Matthew R. Zaist, President and Chief Executive Officer.

Mr. Zaist continued, “We believe that 2017 will represent another year of significant growth for William Lyon Homes. For the full year, we currently expect 2017 results to include deliveries of approximately 3,000 to 3,250 units, home sales revenue of approximately $1.65 billion to $1.75 billion, and pre-tax income before minority interest of approximately $135 million to $150 million. We continue to be focused on our operational initiatives for 2017, which include opening up a number of new key strategic assets to drive results in the back half of the year, maximizing revenue from our existing communities, and improving cost controls at our projects and at the corporate level, while continuing to improve our balance sheet metrics.”

Operating Results

Home sales revenue for the fourth quarter of 2016 was $473.2 million, as compared to $397.2 million in the year-ago period, an increase of 19%. The increase was driven by an 11% increase in deliveries to 902 homes, compared to 809 in the fourth quarter of 2015, and an increase in the average sales price of homes delivered to $524,600, up 7% from the prior year.

The dollar value of orders for the fourth quarter of 2016 was $284.1 million, an increase of 17%, from $243.8 million in the year-ago period. Net new home orders for the quarter were 564, up 9% from the fourth quarter of 2015. The increase in net new home orders was driven by a 7% increase in community count to 79 average sales locations, from 74 in the year-ago period, and by a year-over-year increase in the average monthly absorption rate to 2.4 sales per community. At year end, the Company was selling from 81 sales locations. Net new home orders for January 2017 were up 12% year-over-year and up 25% sequentially from December.

The dollar value of homes in backlog was $410.7 million as of December 31, 2016, an increase of 5% compared to $391.8 million as of December 31, 2015. The increase was driven by a 6% increase in ASP in backlog to $560,300 from $530,100 in the fourth quarter of 2015, partially offset by a 1% decline in units in backlog to 733 from 739 in the year-ago period. In addition, our ASP in backlog as of December 31, 2016 was 7% higher than the ASP of homes closed in the fourth quarter.

Homebuilding gross margin percentage during the fourth quarter of 2016 was 17.0%. Adjusted homebuilding gross margin percentage was 21.6% during the quarter.

Sales and marketing expense during the fourth quarter of 2016 was 4.5% of homebuilding revenue, compared to 4.8% in the year-ago quarter, driven primarily by higher homebuilding revenue and leverage on

advertising and marketing costs, partially offset by an increase in outside broker costs, compared to the prior year period. General and administrative expenses were 4.5% of homebuilding revenue, consistent with the prior year, and up in dollars, due in part to certain severance costs associated with divisional personnel changes, earlier than expected expenses related to sales and construction management software systems, and an increase in outside professional services.

Balance Sheet Update

At year end, cash and cash equivalents totaled $42.6 million, real estate inventories totaled $1.8 billion, total assets were $2.0 billion and total equity was $763 million. Total debt to book capitalization was 58.6%, and net debt to net book capitalization was 57.6% at December 31, 2016, compared to 62.2% and 61.1%, respectively, as of December 31, 2015.

Share Repurchase Authorization

In addition, the Company is announcing today that its Board of Directors has authorized the repurchase of up to $50.0 million of the Company’s Class A common stock in open market purchases, privately negotiated transactions or other transactions. The timing and amount of repurchases will be determined by the Company’s management at its discretion based on a variety of factors, such as the market price of the Company’s Class A common stock, corporate requirements, general market and economic conditions and legal requirements.

Conference Call

The Company will host a conference call to discuss these results today, Wednesday, February 22, 2017 at 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time. The call will be available via both the telephone at (855) 851-4524 or (720) 634-2900, passcode #60683099, or through the Company’s website at www.lyonhomes.com in the Investor Relations section of the site.

A replay of the call will be available through March 1, 2017 by dialing (855) 859-2056 or (404) 537-3406, passcode #60683099. A webcast replay of the call will also be available on the Company’s website approximately two hours after the broadcast.

About William Lyon Homes

William Lyon Homes is one of the largest Western U.S. regional homebuilders. Headquartered in Newport Beach, California, the Company is primarily engaged in the design, construction, marketing and sale of single-family detached and attached homes in California, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, Washington and Oregon. Its core markets include Orange County, Los Angeles, the Inland Empire, the San Francisco Bay Area, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Denver, Portland and Seattle. The Company has a distinguished legacy of more than 60 years of homebuilding operations, over which time it has sold in excess of 99,000 homes. The Company markets and sells its homes under the William Lyon Homes brand in all of its markets except for Colorado, where the Company operates under the Village Homes brand, and Washington and Oregon, where the Company operates under the Polygon Northwest brand.

Forward-Looking Statements

Information presented herein for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2016 is subject to finalization of the Company’s regulatory filings, related financial and accounting reporting procedures and external auditor procedures.

Certain statements contained in this release and the accompanying comments during our conference call that are not historical information may constitute “forward-looking statements” as defined by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, but not limited to, forward-looking statements related to: anticipated new home deliveries, revenue and pre-tax income, gross margin performance, backlog conversion rates, operating and financial results for the first quarter of 2017 and full year 2017, community count growth and project performance, market and industry trends, the continued housing market recovery, average sale price of homes to be closed in various periods, SG&A percentage, future cash needs and liquidity, leverage ratios and reduction strategies and land acquisition spending. The forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and actual results may differ materially from those projected or implied. The Company makes no commitment, and disclaims any duty, to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect future events or changes in these expectations. Further, certain forward-looking statements are based on assumptions of future events which may not prove to be accurate. Factors that may impact such forward-looking statements include, among others: the availability of labor and homebuilding materials and increased construction cycle times; the availability and timing of mortgage financing; adverse weather conditions; our financial leverage and level of indebtedness and any inability to comply with financial and other covenants under our debt instruments; continued volatility and worsening in general economic conditions either internationally, nationally or in regions in which we operate; increased outside broker costs; changes in governmental laws and regulations and increased costs, fees and delays associated therewith; potential changes to the tax code; worsening in markets for residential housing; the impact of construction defect, product liability and home warranty claims, including the adequacy of self-insurance accruals, and the applicability and sufficiency of our insurance coverage; decline in real estate values resulting in impairment of our real estate assets; volatility in the banking industry, credit and capital markets; terrorism or other hostilities involving the United States; building moratorium or “slow-growth” or “no-growth” initiatives that could be implemented in states in which we operate; changes in mortgage and

other interest rates; conditions in the capital, credit and financial markets, including mortgage lending standards and the availability of mortgage financing; changes in generally accepted accounting principles or interpretations of those principles; changes in prices of homebuilding materials; competition for home sales from other sellers of new and resale homes; cancellations and our ability to realize our backlog; the occurrence of events such as landslides, soil subsidence and earthquakes that are uninsurable, not economically insurable or not subject to effective indemnification agreements; limitations on our ability to utilize our tax attributes; whether an ownership change occurred that could, under certain circumstances, have resulted in the limitation of our ability to offset prior years’ taxable income with net operating losses; the timing of receipt of regulatory approvals and the opening of projects; the availability and cost of land for future development; and additional factors discussed under the sections captioned “Risk Factors” included in our annual and quarterly reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The foregoing list is not exhaustive. New risk factors may emerge from time to time and it is not possible for management to predict all such risk factors or to assess the impact of such risk factors on our business.

Investor/Media Contacts:

Larry Clark

Financial Profiles, Inc.

(310) 622-8223

WLH@finprofiles.com

WILLIAM LYON HOMES

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS

(in thousands except number of shares and per share data)

(unaudited)

WILLIAM LYON HOMES

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS

(in thousands except number of shares and per share data)

WILLIAM LYON HOMES

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

(in thousands, except number of shares and par value per share)

WILLIAM LYON HOMES

SELECTED FINANCIAL AND OPERATING INFORMATION

(unaudited)

WILLIAM LYON HOMES

SELECTED FINANCIAL AND OPERATING INFORMATION

(unaudited)

WILLIAM LYON HOMES

SELECTED FINANCIAL AND OPERATING INFORMATION

(unaudited)

WILLIAM LYON HOMES

SUPPLEMENTAL FINANCIAL INFORMATION

(dollars in thousands)

(unaudited)

Balance Sheet Data

WILLIAM LYON HOMES

SUPPLEMENTAL FINANCIAL INFORMATION

(dollars in thousands)

(unaudited)