Brazil developer Rossi Q2 profit edges up slightly

* Company posted Q2 net income 51.2 million reais

* EBITDA up 38 percent to 90 million reais

By Guillermo Parra-Bernal

SAO PAULO, Aug 13 (Reuters) - Brazil homebuilder Rossi Residencial (RSID3.SA) said on Thursday quarterly net income edged up less than 1 percent as a jump in costs mostly wiped out gains from a year-on-year increase in sales.

Rossi's profit was 51.2 million reais ($28 million) in its second quarter compared with 50.8 million reais a year earlier, The Sao Paulo-based company said in a securities filing.

Rossi was expected to post net income of 37.4 million reais in the April-through-June period, according to the average estimates of four analysts consulted by Reuters.

Gross revenues climbed 8 percent from the year-earlier period to 369 million reais, but those gains were mostly offset by an increase in costs of building the houses, particularly in costs related to financing.

The company said a government program meant to boost access to housing for the poor spurred a 143 percent jump sales of its economic homes in the first semester.

"The government took important measures to reduce the impact of the external crisis on the local economy and to accelerate the return to growth," the company said, citing the program "Minha Casa, Minha Vida" that spurred the low-income housing market.

The industry tumbled in the wake of the global credit crisis last September, when wary consumers recoiled from purchasing homes as credit dried up and joblessness spiked.

The company's diversified portfolio ranging from low-income to upscale housing projects provided it with a cushion amid the worst economic slowdown in Brazil in almost two decades.

Rossi closed the quarter with total debt of 995 million reais compared to 623 million reais reported in its second quarter 2008 earnings statement.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, a measure of operational profitability and cash generation, known as EBITDA, rose 38 percent to 90 million reais in the second quarter from 65 million reais in the year-earlier period, the company said.

Accounting changes for the real estate industry that took effect this year, implemented by regulators, might have distorted the comparison with the second quarter of 2008, analysts told Reuters before the release.

($1=1.832 reais) (Reporting by Guillermo Parra-Bernal; Editing by Gary Hill)