In the article, though, Michael Souers, who tracks housing sector ETFs for S&P/Capital IQ, cautions that the better foot traffic in the warmer winter months makes him “a bit nervous that the spring season will be underwhelming.”
Nevertheless, Merrill Lynch’s Chris Flanagan believes that falling home prices are near their bottom, but prices may still hover around their current levels before rising in 2013. Economists optimistically note that the period of high housing inventories and low buyers may have passed, with the supply of existing homes falling to 2.43 million, or down 50% year-over-year, and employment numbers begin improving.
“It could take several years to work off this shadow inventory,” Souers said in the article, but he added that “homebuilders are now in far healthier shape and leveraged to even a moderate upturn.”
For more information on homebuilders, visit our homebuilders category.
Max Chen contributed to this article.