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iShares FTSE NAREIT Residential Plus Capped Index ETF

5/21/2013, 1:33 PM ET

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Friday, March 8, 2:29 PM "Someone say house party?" In a note of that title, BofA MBS strategists lift their target for national home price gains in 2013 to 8% from 4.7%. The group cites the positive feedback loop of price gains fueling expectations of more price gains and easier credit, in turn stimulating more buying. Also helping is low inventory - a function of low supply, as opposed to the bubble when it was feverish demand. XHB +1%. Comment! [U.S. Economy]
Thursday, March 7, 12:51 PM This is housing nirvana, I'm the most bullish I've ever been, Ivy Zelman tells CNBC. Bearish at the top, and bullish a year ago near the bottom, Zelman says we're in the very early innings of a house price rally that could go on for another 4-6 years. XHB -0.4%. 1 Comment [U.S. Economy]
Monday, March 4, 3:49 PM "Dude, where's my inventory," asks Bill McBride, as the imminent start of the spring selling season has yet to bring much product forward. Inventory is up just 3.4% thus far this year, and stands 23.2% below a year ago. If the rest of March doesn't bring substantial gains then razor-thin inventories may not be done bottoming. 10 Comments [U.S. Economy]
Tuesday, February 26, 10:35 AM More on New Home Sales: Sales nationally are up 28.9% Y/Y, up 54% in the northeast, up 60% in the west, up in the teens in the south and midwest. There's a 4.1 month supply of new homes for sale, down from 4.8 in December and 5.3 a year ago. XHB +1.4%. (full report) Comment! [U.S. Economy]
Friday, February 22, 8:49 AM "Sellers are calling the shots right now," says a California real estate broker. "What's out there is gobbled up with anywhere from 5 to 25 offers." It's not 2005 again - by some measures it could be even crazier. At 1.74M homes, housing inventory is at the lowest level since 1999 as the spring buying season awaits. Zillow reports prices up 6.2% Y/Y in January, the fastest pace since the bubble days. 10 Comments [U.S. Economy]
Tuesday, February 19, 10:06 AM More on NAHB (previous): After big gains for most of 2012, the index has essentially leveled out over the past 4 months. Yes, there are economy worries, but builders now must deal with rising costs for materials in all markets, and higher labor costs in certain markets, according to NAHB chief Rick Judson. XHB +0.6%. 2 Comments [U.S. Economy]
Tuesday, February 12, 1:41 PM MBS (MBB) are in a bit of a bear market, falling back to levels not seen since the Bank of Bernanke took aim at raising their prices (lowering yields) with QE∞ in September. A buyer at these prices is AGNC's and MTGE's Gary Kain, who says the pendulum has swung back to favoring agency MBS purchases instead of non-agency paper. 1 Comment [Financials]
Monday, February 11, 10:11 AM Median existing single-family home prices rose Y/Y in 133 of 152 tracked metro areas, according to the NAR, up from 120 in Q3 and just 29 a year ago. The national median sales price of $178.9K is up 10% Y/Y. Inventories shrunk to 1.82M homes at year's end, down 21.6% Y/Y - it's the lowest level of inventory since January 2001. XHB +7% YTD. 3 Comments [U.S. Economy]
Thursday, February 7, 10:54 AM CYS Investments (CYS -4.1%) leads the mortgage REIT sector lower after last night's earnings. "The opportunities ... are quite a bit narrower," says CEO Kevin Grant on the earnings call (transcript), with the net interest spread of 108 bps "a pretty good indicator" of such. On a hopeful note, he thinks D.C. may be turning its focus to the non-agency market, which would take some pressure off agency players such as CYS. 1 Comment [Financials, On the Move]
Wednesday, January 30, 9:42 AM The hot homebuilder sector (XHB) gets even more buzz as TRI Pointe Homes (TRH) ups the size of its IPO to 13.69M shares from 11.7M. The builder (mostly CA, also CO) would now raise $205M based on the midpoint of the expected price range of $14-$16/share. Comment! [U.S. Economy]
Friday, January 25, 10:09 AM A soft print in New Home Sales takes some of the starch out of an early stock rally, the S&P 500 +0.3%. Seasonally adjusted sales were off 7.3% from November, but higher by 8.8% Y/Y. Sales in 2012 were 19.9% higher than 2011, the strongest gain since 1983. XHB flat. 7 Comments [U.S. Economy]
Thursday, January 24, 8:53 AM "(Commercial property) values are increasing but they're not running away," says Starwood (STWD) CEO Barry Sternlicht in an interview about the LNR purchase. He notes money is beginning to move out of fixed income into real property. This isn't news for major city centers, but Sternlicht says it's beginning to spill into "secondary cities." Comment! [Financials, U.S. Economy]
Wednesday, January 23, 9:38 AM More on mortgage applications: Low rates (and the threat of higher ones) along with increasing prices have buyers busy. The seasonally-adjusted 3% rise in purchase applications has the index at its highest level since the homebuyer tax credit was set to expire in May 2010. The unadjusted purchase index +26% Y/Y. (full report) Comment! [U.S. Economy]
Friday, January 18, 10:59 AM More good news for housing: Household formation growth is back. After averaging more than 1M/year prior to the property bust, formations dropped to about 500K/year between 2008-10. The number bounced to 1.1M in 2011 and looks to have risen further last year. The gains are particularly felt in the rental market, and builders are obliging with a big jump in multi-family starts. 5 Comments [U.S. Economy]
Thursday, January 17, 9:25 AM A check on the homebuilder ETFs finds both XHB and ITB about 1% higher premarket following the big housing starts number. It's no news multi-family starts were of particular strength (longer-term chart), and Lennar (LEN) got on board this week, announcing its entry into that segment of the business. Comment! [U.S. Economy, On the Move]
Friday, January 11, 9:21 AM BAML likes the homebuilding industry, unleashing Buy ratings on D.R. Horton (DHI), Toll Brothers (TOL), Masco (MAS), and Owens Corning (OC). 4 Comments [U.S. Economy]