U.S. household real estate has come a long way. Back in 2Q06, the market value of U.S. household real estate peaked at $22.7 trillion, before coming under sustained pressure after the bubble burst. Amazingly, in the next five years, it … Continued
Next week brings three important housing-related data points: the NAHB/Wells Fargo housing market index (September), existing home sales (August), and housing starts (August). In July, starts rose 2.1 percent month-over-month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.21 million units, … Continued
Next week’s economic calendar is housing-heavy. Monday brings the NAHB/Wells Fargo housing market index for July, Tuesday housing starts for June, and Thursday existing home sales for June. Builder sentiment remained stuck at 58 for four months through May, before … Continued
This week, May’s existing and new home sales data come out – on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively. In April, the former rose 1.7 percent month-over-month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.45 million units, and has essentially gone sideways … Continued
ITB, the iShares U.S. home construction ETF, cannot get it going. On May 24th, it surged 3.8 percent with massive volume. The ETF was reacting to April’s new home sales, which surged 16.6 percent month-over-month to a seasonally adjusted annual … Continued
Tomorrow, April’s new home sales come out. March was down 1.5 percent month-over-month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 511,000 units. The cycle peaked at 545,000 units in February last year – a seven-year high. The median price in … Continued
U.S. housing is stuck. That is pretty much the impression one gets looking at April’s housing starts that were out yesterday. Starts rose 6.6 percent month-over-month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.17 million units. The cycle high 1.21 … Continued
One look at Chart 1 and it is easy to see what a squeeze can do to short interest. In the two weeks ended January 29th, short interest on XLF, the SPDR financial ETF, peaked at 146.8 million. The ETF … Continued
From up 30.2 percent between February 11th low and April 21st high to down 7.3 percent since that high, ITB, the iShares U.S. home construction ETF, has had its share of ups and downs. There is likely a crossover in … Continued
March sales of existing and new homes were a mixed bag, with the former up 5.1 percent month-over-month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.33 million units, and the latter down 1.5 percent m/m to 511,000 units. Post-bubble, sales … Continued