The housing market has stagnated for years after the subprime bust and financial crisis, but the sector, along with related exchange traded funds, is finally starting to show signs of a recovery.
Clayton Homes, the largest producer and financier of U.S. manufactured homes, announced last Friday that second-quarter pretax earnings jumped 45%, reports Sue Chang for MarketWatch. [Homebuilder ETFs Rally on Housing Bottom Calls]
“Revenues from home sales increased $40 million (11%) in the second quarter and $103 million (16%) in the first six months, due primarily to increases in units sold partially offset by slightly lower average prices,” according to a Berkshire Hathaway regulatory filing.
“We would like to think that housing is finding its equilibrium, that it is searching for a bottom and establishing a base,” Steven Jones, an investment manager at First Washington, said in a recent report.
Economic data reveals historic low new-home inventories, rising homebuilder sentiment and four consecutive months of higher home prices; however, Yale University professor Robert Shiller remains skeptical, pointing to the lack of momentum behind the recovery, writes Joe Light for WSJ Total Return.