PHM - Homebuilder real estate broker stocks climb even as recession fears mount

Homebuilder and real estate broker stocks are climbing even as fears of a recession increase. If U.S. economic growth slows, the Federal Reserve may slow its pace of rate hike increases or stop earlier than investors had expected. That fares well for prospective homebuyers, which in turn, would increase demand for homes.

iShares U.S. Home Construction ETF ( BATS: ITB ) is gaining 1.4% in Tuesday afternoon trading, and appears to be on a general uptrend since June 21. The shares are still down from a month ago, as seen in this chart . YTD, ITB has dropped 22% .

Among real estate brokers, the strongest gains are in tech-focused firms such as Offerpad Solutions ( NYSE: OPAD ), surging 9.2% , Compass ( NYSE: COMP ) +6.9% , eXp World Holdings ( NASDAQ: EXPI ) +9.2% , and Redfin ( NASDAQ: RDFN ) +4.7% . That also jibes with the overall market, where information technology names are faring relatively well compared with other sectors.

Homebuilders, meanwhile, are making decent gains with D.R. Horton ( NYSE: DHI ), the largest U.S. homebuilder, rising 1.4% , KB Home ( NYSE: KBH ) +1.8% , PulteGroup ( NYSE: PHM ) +2.0%, Hovnanian Enterprises ( NYSE: HOV ) +2.7% , and NVR ( NYSE: NVR ) +2.7% .

In H1 2022, real estate slumped 21%, with iBuyer Opendoor Technologies ( NASDAQ: OPEN ) sliding the most .

Last week, the number of homes for sale in June jumped, signaling a slightly cooler market

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