In contrast, the iShares U.S. Home Construction ETF (NYSEArca: ITB), which tracks a market-cap-weighted index, includes heavy tilts toward homebuilders, such as D R Horton (NYSE: DHI) 10.7%, Lennar (NYSE: LEN) 10.5%, Pultegroup (NYSE: PHM) 8.4%, Toll Brothers (NYSE: TOL) 7.6% and NVR (NYSE: NVR) 7.0%. ITB also includes some home improvement names, such as Lowes (NYSE: LOW) 3.5% and Home Depot (NYSE: HD) 4.4%. In April, the larger ITB only lost $71.2 million in assets.
Looking at their recent performances, XHB has declined 3.5% over the past month, whereas ITB declined 6.4%.
The smaller redemptions from ITB and larger outflows form XHB could suggest that ETF investors were pulling more out of XHB because of their growing concerns over consumer spending and related sectors. For instance, over April, the Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR (NYSEArca: XLY) experienced $261.2 million in outflows while the Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR (NYSEArca: XLP) saw $479.9 million in outflows.
SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF
For more information on the housing market, visit our homebuilders category.
Max Chen contributed to this article.