Backlog of Unsold Homes Rises, Homebuilder ETFs Fall

Real estate and homebuilder exchange traded funds (ETFs) are down sharply midday after reports that there are more unsold homes in the United States than there have been for 23 years.

The National Association of Realtors reported that existing home sales fell for the eighth time in nine months as the unsold-home backlog shot up to its highest level since the mid-’80s. Existing home sales also dropped by 1%, equaling the all-time low set in January. The records go back to 1999, says Martin Crutsinger for the Associated Press.

Talk about piling on. Yesterday, home prices fell 1.7% in the first quarter.

The news yesterday pulled the real estate-related ETFs down just slightly. Today, homebuilder ETFs are down more than 3% in early trading, while real estate ETFs are down just a little.

• SPDR S&P Homebuilders (XHB), up 3.5% year-to-date
• First Trust S&P REIT Index Fund (FRI), up 5.3% year-to-date
• iShares Dow Jones US Home Construction (ITB), down 1.3% year-to-date
• iShares FTSE NAREIT Real Estate 50 Index (FTY), up 5.4% year-to-date
• DJ Wilshire REIT (RWR), up 7% year-to-date