ITB News and Press, iShares U.S. Home Construction ETF From 06/06/19

Hopes are running high that potential interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve will support the auto and housing sectors, two parts of the economy that are sensitive to borrowing costs. The risk, though, is rising that any relief won't come until after these critical leaders of the current ...

“In summer, the song sings itself” --The Botticellian Trees, William Carlos Williams, 1931 The summer is getting off to a disharmonious start in 2019. Following a relentless +26% rally from Christmas Eve through the end of April, the S&P 500 Index turned cold in May...

Real Estate Weekly Review On a tumultuous month that saw the S&P 500 ( SPY ) dive more than 6% and temporarily wipe-out more than $4 trillion in market value, REITs ( VNQ ) eked out a 0.1% monthly gain as real estate became the best-performing equity sector in 2019. The sudden and unexpe...

In April 2019, the initial raw data for median new home sale prices in the U.S. spiked sharply upward, rising to a new record high value of $342,200 - a nearly 12% increase over the second estimate of $305,800 for March 2019's median new home sale price. Meanwhile, median household income in...

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averages 3.99% for the week ending May 30, 2019, the first time it has dipped below 4% since January 2018, according to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey. More news on: UBS ETRACS Monthly Pay 2x Leveraged Mortgage REIT ETN, iShares Mortgage Real...

With Tuesday's release of the March S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index, we learned that seasonally adjusted home prices for the benchmark 20-city index were up 0.09% month over month. The seasonally adjusted national index year-over-year change has hovered between 4.2% and 6.7% for the last...

Homebuilder Rankings Overview In our Real Estate Rankings series, we analyze each of the commercial and residential real estate sectors. We analyze homebuilders based on both common and unique valuation metrics, presenting investors with numerous options that fit their own investing styl...

By Michael S. Canter and Janaki Rao Credit risk-transfer securities (CRTs) have made the US mortgage market safer by shifting default risk from taxpayers to private investors. The latest attempt to overhaul the housing finance system isn't likely to change that. A recent memo from Presid...

Real Estate Weekly Review For the 17th time out of the 21 weeks of 2019, the REIT Indexes ( VNQ and IYR ) finished the week higher, continuing to feel the tailwinds of the retreat in benchmark interest rates. The 10-Year yield dipped to the lowest level since late 2017 as trade worries and...

I never recommend trading lumber futures because of the lack of liquidity in the lumber futures contracts on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. However, lumber is a critical commodity when it comes to construction and building all over the world. The current level of open interest in the lumber ...