Housing

A Swell Of Pent-Up Demand Supports the Surge in Toll Brothers

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on August 24, 2012. Click here to read the entire piece.) {snip} TOL reported earnings the morning of August 22nd. The tone of the conference call was bullish and the market responded by pushing TOL to fresh 5 1/2 year highs. TOL’s … Read more

Time to Hedge A Little As Homebuilders Surge to Multi-Year Milestones

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on August 19, 2012. Click here to read the entire piece.) In 2010, the SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF (XHB) rallied sharply only to peak in parabolic fashion in April. That Fall, I reaffirmed my belief that housing would bounce along the bottom … Read more

KB Home Continues to Struggle With Former Downtrend From Peak of Housing Bubble

I have written positively several times about Kb Home (KBH) this year (for example, see “KB Home ‘On Offense’ As Its Housing Markets And Pricing Power Strengthen“). KBH is up nicely for the year through a lot of turbulent price action, but it has yet to shake its former downtrend drawn from the peak of … Read more

At 15-Month Highs, Dynex Further Confirms Bullish Bias Towards Housing Market

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on July 9, 2012. Click here to read the entire piece.) Five months ago, I recommended Dynex (DX) as another play on a housing recovery (and bottom for 2013). The rationale was relatively straightforward: {snip} Since then, DX has managed to tack … Read more

KB Home Going “On Offense” As Its Housing Markets And Pricing Power Strengthen

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on July 7, 2012. Click here to read the entire piece.) Kb Home (KBH) has finally recovered most of its losses following its March 23rd earnings report. On that day, the market took KBH down 8.5% in response to those earnings, but … Read more

So Far, Facebook IPO Has Had No Significant Impact On Housing Market Near HQ

Last week, Zillow (Z) published an infographic on its blog site purportedly describing the impact of the Facebook (FB) IPO on home listings in the local neighborhood of its Menlo Park headquarters (see “Millionaire’s Row: How Did Facebook’s IPO Affect Silicon Valley Real Estate?“). The summary caught my attention: “To illustrate the Valley’s real estate … Read more

Kb Home Falls Further Behind the Homebuilders ETF (XHB)

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on May 31, 2012. Click here to read the entire piece.) The SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF (XHB) has remained amazingly resilient during the stock market’s latest rendition of the “sell-in-May” swoon. {snip} Source: FreeStockCharts.com I believe this trading action is consistent with … Read more

Shorts Back Off Lender Processing Services As Overall Prospects Continue To Improve

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on May 31, 2012. Click here to read the entire piece.) {snip} Since a spate of heavy call buying in February, short interest has taken a fresh plunge. It has now returned to levels last seen right before foreclosuregate exploded. Source: NASDAQ.com … Read more