Homebuilder optimism is catching up with weakening home sales. Starts have responded and inventory is sharply rising – a byproduct of rapidly appreciating prices and a rise in mortgage rates. Buyers need to see relief on both these fronts before … Continued
The rise in supply of new homes is coming amidst relatively soft sales, inflated prices and now rising mortgage rates. Concurrently, builder sentiment is off its high but remains elevated, even as ITB is below potentially crucial $66. Sales of … Continued
Over the past year, housing data – both survey- and activity-based – have gotten better. Housing starts and sales of new and existing homes have strengthened since the December 2018/January 2019 lows. ITB just broke out of two-year resistance. Possible … Continued
ITB (iShares Dow Jones US home construction ETF) continues to search for direction. As did lots of other ETFs/indices/individual stocks, it fell drastically late January-early February. Unlike many others, however, recovery since has been tentative, to say the least. From … Continued
Homebuilder-focused ETF’s are at/near record highs. Momentum is intact, but builder sentiment – also at multi-year highs – is worth watching. Homebuilding stocks are on fire. XHB (SPDR S&P homebuilders ETF) is already up 5.6 percent for the year. Monday, … Continued
From the sales point of view, U.S. housing remains way below the bubble highs of a decade ago, but several other metrics have pushed into record territory. November’s existing home sales were published this week. They were up 5.6 percent … Continued
Rates are rising – probably not enough to seriously hurt sectors such as housing, but will in due course if the momentum continues. In merely nine sessions, 10-year Treasury yields have gone up by 24 basis points to 2.28 percent, … Continued
Later this morning, sales of existing homes for May will be published. On Friday, new home sales come out for the same month. Using a 12-month rolling average, sales of existing homes in April were 5.51 million units and new … Continued
Peak optimism? We are increasingly beginning to hear commentators/observers use that phrase in media interviews, articles as well as on social media. Among other things, Charts 1 and 2 are probably to blame. In the latest week, Investors Intelligence bulls … Continued
U.S. sales of existing homes increased 0.7 percent month-over-month in November to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.61 million units. This was the highest since 5.79 million in February 2007 (Chart 1). Sales had been flat for over a … Continued