Published on 25 Nov 2021 on Zacks via Yahoo Finance

ETFs to Gain as US Existing Home Sales Hit 9-Month-High Mark

Amid the persistent headwinds of rising housing prices and supply-chain disturbances, the U.S. existing home sales data has pleasantly surprised investors. Per the National Association of Realtors (NAR) report, there was a 0.8% month-over-month increase in existing homes sales to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 6.34 million units in October. The figure surpassed economists’ expectations of sales declining to 6.20 million units, per a Reuters poll.  Increasing for the second consecutive month, the metric saw the highest level since January. However, existing-home sales were down 5.8% year over year.

The upbeat data can be a positive for ETFs like iShares U.S. Home Construction ETF ITB, SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF XHB, Invesco Dynamic Building & Construction ETF PKB and Hoya Capital Housing ETF HOMZ, which have high exposure to companies belonging to the housing space.

First-time buyers accounted for 29% of sales in October, rising from 28% in September but comparing unfavorably with 32% in the year-ago period. Existing homes sales increased in the Midwest by 4.2% month over month in October. The figure was up 0.4% in the Southern region. Meanwhile, sales in the Northeast declined 2.6%. Existing-home sales were flat in the Western region.