PROVIDENCE – Home and commercial technology manufacturer Nortek Inc. late Tuesday said its losses grew in the first quarter and warned that it may have trouble making its debt payments next year, as the meltdown in the housing market took a heavy toll on the company.

Nortek posted a net loss of $32.7 million in the quarter ended April 4, significantly larger than the net loss of $4.1 million the company reported in the same period a year earlier. The company said its quarterly operating earnings fell 37.6 percent to $14.6 million from $23.4 million last year.

Nortek’s net sales declined 18.7 percent to $439 million in the quarter, compared with net sales of $540.2 million a year ago.

In a statement, Richard L. Bready, Nortek’s chairman and CEO, put the best face he could on the results. “Nortek continues to manage its business well considering the meltdown in the new housing market, the financial crisis impact on refinancings and foreclosures on existing homes and the reduced level of renovation and remodeling spending,” he said, adding that the company would continue to reduce costs by shedding staff and cutting expenses.

Bready said he did not expect to see any improvement in the housing market this year. “We expect these difficult new housing market conditions will continue throughout 2009 until foreclosures work their way through the system and housing prices stabilize,” he said. “Furthermore, consumer spending on home remodeling and repair expenditures will not improve substantially until consumer confidence increases and consumers reinvest in their homes.”

The report also said the results “create uncertainty” about whether Nortek and its parent company, NTK Holdings, will be able to make $162.3 million in debt payments that will come due next March and in the months that follow. The company said it may need to restructure its debt obligations either privately or in court, and the result could be a change in control of the company.

In the first quarter, Nortek’s interest expenses totaled $38.3 million, up from $27.4 million in the same period last year.