Shortage of Labor in Some Housing Markets

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on September 7, 2012. Click here to read the entire piece.) In “Home Builders Don’t Have Enough Workers to Meet New Demand“, CNBC reports that housing markets with strong demand are reporting severe shortages of labor. These strong markets include the Western … Read more

Latest Housing Price Data Confirm Housing Bottom Underway

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on August 26, 2012. Click here to read the entire piece.) The last earnings reports from homebuilders like Toll Brothers (TOL) and KB Home (KBH) have delivered very positive outlooks on the current housing market: see “A Swell Of Pent Up Demand … Read more

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

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

Shadow Inventory Has Become Less Relevant to the Housing Bottom Debate

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on January 23, 2012. Click here to read the entire piece.) Earlier this month, I argued that 2012 is the year to start betting on a bottom for housing in 2013 (see “Time to Buy the Dips in Homebuilders“). One of the … Read more

Time to Buy the Dips In Homebuilders

This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on January 12, 2012. Click here to read the entire piece.) I last provided a comprehensive review of the housing market on September 29, 2010 in “Still Expecting Housing to Bounce Along the Bottom Until 2013.” At the time, I reiterated the … Read more

Housing’s Struggles Continue As Some Prices Roll Back to 1990s Levels

It seems the Federal Reserve may maintain some excuse to keep printing money. Hundreds of billions printed in the name of economic recovery and inflation can be seen almost everywhere except the housing market, one of two of the Fed’s main targets – the other being employment. (See “Inflation Watch” for running highlights of stories … Read more

Poor Housing Numbers Send XHB to Another Retest of 2010 Lows

Many homebuilder stocks, like Toll Brothers (TOL), went parabolic in April. The homebuilder index, XHB, hit 18-month highs at the time. Since flaming out, TOL is down 26%, and the homebuilder’s ETF, XHB, has sunk 23% in two months. This action further confirms the principle that parabolic moves more than likely signal the coming end … Read more