Housing Shortage • REITs Lead • Virus Mutation

December 22, 2020 | Hoya Capital

Housing Shortage • REITs Lead • Virus Mutation Daily Recap Dec 22 Written By Summary U.S. equity markets were mixed Tuesday as concerns over the ramifications of a potential virus mutation in Europe offset the approval of the long-delayed fiscal stimulus renewal in the United States. Finishing lower for the third-straight day, the S&P 500 declined by 0.21% today but the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 finished in positive territory. The Dow Jones Industrial Average retreated by 201-points.

Led by the "essential" property sectors, real estate equities were leaders on the day as the broad-based Equity REIT ETF finished higher by 0.7% with 13-of-18 property sectors in positive-territory. Existing Home Sales in November were higher by 25.8% from last year to 6.69 million, which was the highest sales rate for November since 2005. Prices were nearly 15% higher from last year. Underscoring the mounting housing shortage, inventory of existing homes dipped 22.0% from last year, representing a 2.3-month supply at the current sales pace, the lowest in the survey's history.

Real Estate Daily Recap U.S. equity markets were mixed Tuesday as concerns over the ramifications of a potential virus mutation in Europe offset the approval of the long-delayed fiscal stimulus renewal in the United States. Finishing lower for the third-straight day, the S&P 500 ETF ( SPY ) declined by 0.2% today but the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 ( QQQ ) finished in positive territory. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ( DIA ) retreated by 201 points.

Led by the "essential" property sectors, real estate equities were leaders on the day as the broad-based Equity REIT ETF ( VNQ ) finished higher by 0.7% with 13 of 18 property sectors in positive territory. Mortgage REITs ( REM ) finished flat on the day. The "reopening trade" was back in vogue today as Mid-Caps ( MDY ) gained 0.5% while Small-Caps ( SLY ) were higher by 0.4%, each outperforming the large-cap indexes.

Despite ...