Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Still more signs of a housing recovery



The National Association of Home Builders asks its members to gauge their perceptions of current single family home sales and sales expectations for the next six months, and to rate traffic of prospective buyers. Scores from each component are then used to calculate a seasonally adjusted index where any number over 50 indicates that more builders view conditions as good than poor. The index is still under 50, so the majority of home builders still see poor conditions, but at the rate things are improving, we could see a majority rating conditions as good in a few months. 


This next chart shows an index of the stocks of major home builders, and it confirms that things have improved noticeably of late. The S&P 500 Homebuilders ETF (XHB) has doubled since its low of last October.


6 comments:

McKibbinUSA said...

Given QE3, I am now bullish for real estate along Main Street USA...

McKibbinUSA said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
McKibbinUSA said...

The 2011 mortgage lending report below helps explain the extent of the existing real estate problem along Main Street USA, which is currently in a state of economic depression -- QE3 attacks this issue directly -- unfortunately, QE3 carries inflation risks for the larger US economy -- however, some inflation along Main Street USA is sorely needed at this point given the devastating declines in property values that continue to persist in many real estate markets in the US -- for better or worse, the Fed is now fully focused on the real estate drag in the US economy.

http://www.ffiec.gov/press/pr091812.htm

steve said...

I just have a hard time understanding how inflation is going to help the average schlepp who has to buy food and energy on a limited income with little to no investments. the wealthy? sure. the top 1% (and I'm not complaining) have done quite well under obama while the other 99% have suffered yet the 99% want hiom reelected! go figure

Benjamin Cole said...

You can leverage to buy housing, and may not yet be too late.

Terrific investment, favored by tax code.

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