Which Homebuilder ETF Is Better Constructed?
Friday, August 13th, 2010Morningstar submits:
By Robert Goldsborough
While home prices have stabilized since April 2009, they have shown little to nothing in the way of any kind of upturn since that time. And although the end of federal government support for the homebuilding industry–in the form of the June 30 discontinuance of the $8,000 first-time-homebuyer tax credit and the government concluding more than $1 trillion in government purchases of mortgage-backed securities in March–has not been followed by a step down in housing prices, the sector at best has shown tepidness. Indeed, while the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices data released in late July showed that the annual growth rates of home prices improved in May compared with April, index officials hastened to add that we have been in a strong seasonal period for home prices. They also noted that there might have been some "residual impact" from the homebuyer-tax-credit program, given that it covered any new home purchase closing through June 30.
