Real Estate Daily Recap: REITs Flat, Homebuilders Jump Despite Weak Home Sales Data
The REIT ETFs (VNQ and IYR) climbed by 0.2% on the day, led by strong performance in the mall, apartment, and student housing REIT sectors. Data centers and storage REITs finished the day on the downside following weak earnings results from CyrusOne (CONE) and ExtraSpace Storage (EXR). The S&P 500, meanwhile, retreated 0.4% on the day, as did the Nasdaq and Russell 2000. The 10-Year yield climbed three basis point to 2.69%.
The homebuilder ETFs (XHB and ITB) finished the day higher by roughly 1.6%, the strongest performing sector within the Hoya Capital Housing 100 Index. KB Homes (KBH), NVR (NVR), and Pulte (PHM) each climbed more than 1.5% on the day while residential REITs (REZ) also delivered a decent day, led by Park Hotels (PK), Aimco (AIV), and Equity Residential (EQR).
Existing home sales were weaker than expected in January, coming in at a rate of 4.94 million versus expectations of around 5.0 million. Home sales dipped 8.5% year-over-year on a seasonally adjusted basis and have recorded negative YoY growth in 11 straight months.