Real Estate Daily Recap: Another Strong Day for REITs & Housing As Earnings Heat Up

April 24, 2019 | Hoya Capital

Real Estate Daily Recap: Another Strong Day for REITs & Housing As Earnings Heat Up Uncategorized Apr 24 Written By Following a 1.3% jump yesterday, the Hoya Capital US REIT Index finished the day higher by another 1.0%, led by the student housing, single family rental, and shopping center REIT sectors. The cell tower, hotel, and office REIT sectors were the relative underperformers on the day. The S&P 500 finished the day lower by 0.2%, retreating from record-highs.

The Nasdaq finished lower by 0.3%. At 2.52%, the 10-Year Yield finished the day lower by 5 basis points on the day. Oil finished lower by nearly 1%, but the recent climb higher in energy prices threaten to derail the 'Goldilocks' economic conditions that had powered real estate outperformance since late 2018. The Hoya Capital US Housing Index finished the day higher by 0.5% with seven of the eight sectors in positive territory.

The Residential REIT and Homebuilding sectors were the strongest performers, led by strong gains Meritage (MTH) and Ventas (VTR). Really (RLGY), Restoration Hardware (RH), ReMax (RMAX), and Williams-Sonoma all finished higher by at least 2%. The Real Estate Technology and Homebuilding Products sectors were the relative underperforms on the day. Owens Corning (OC), Sleep Number (SNBR), Redfin (RDFN), and Zillow (Z) were each down by 3% or more on the day.

New Home Sales data, released yesterday morning, came in above consensus estimates. Sales increased 4.5% from last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 692,000 units, the highest level since November 2017. On a TTM basis, new home sales are higher by 0.2% over the last year. Existing home sales data, released this morning, was weaker than estimated as the lingering effects of the 2018 softness carry into this year.

Per the NAR, existing sales came in at 5.21 million, below the 5.31 consensus estimates. This represents a 5.4% decrease from the same month last year. The ...