Shares of U.S. housing stocks fell on Friday after a government report showed single-family home sales in November took their biggest one-month tumble since January 1994, and the inventory of unsold homes was at its highest in nine years.
Sales of single-family homes fell 11.3 percent in November to an annual selling rate of 1.245 million units, well below October’s record of 1.404 million units, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Commerce.
The number of homes for which permits have been issued as yet have no buyers rose to a 4.9 months supply.
Although the increase was driven primarily by units not yet started or by those that are still under construction, their completion will lead to even more speculative homes left unsold on the market if the sales pace slows, Daniel Oppenheim, a Banc of America Securities analyst, said in a research note.
Oppenheim said he expects the weaker sales and accumulating inventory to lead to an even more significant slowdown in home price appreciation, the key driver of margin and earnings growth of home-builder stocks over the past several years.
The analyst said he was most concerned about M.D.C. Holdings Inc., which was down 1.5 percent, or 95 cents, at $62.96 in midday trading on the New York Stock Exchange; and NVR Inc., which was off less than a percent, or $4.56 at $713 on the American Stock Exchange.
Oppenheim cited M.D.C. exposure to several hot markets and NVR’s major play in the frothy Washington, D.C., market.
No. 1 U.S. home builder D.R. Horton Inc. was off 74 cents, or 2 percent, at $36.11, while No. 2 home builder Pulte Homes Inc. was down 67 cents, or 1.6 percent, to $40.83, both on the NYSE.
The Dow Jones U.S. Home Construction Index, a wide barometer of home building stock activity, fell 1.2 percent.
