U.S. Stock Market: Homebuilder Reversals Raise Concerns
New home sales trend bends downgetty After a lengthy rise, homebuilder stocks have dropped around 30%. Time to buy? Probably not. Fundamentals began weakening last year as homebuilders continued to build their significantly large inventories even as sales tapered off. (See Oct. 4 article, "Homebuilder Optimism May Be Ending As Conditions Weaken") The homebuilder cycles New home buying tends to run in lengthy cycles. The current trend is now downwards as the number of buyers shrinks. Likely, the cause is more than a high mortgage rate. New home prices are...