Credit Suisse Expects DHI, KBH, MTH, RYL To Witness Best Sales
According to Credit Suisse, although cold weather conditions have delayed the onset of spring and adversely affected traffic, it has not been able to dampen the solid trends. The Monthly Survey of Real Estate Agents has indicated that the slight decline in traffic seen in February was primarily due to weather conditions rather than a slip in underlying demand. Recent market checks indicate the resumption in traffic by the end of February.
In addition, the "time to sell" index, which reflects both the impact of sales and inventory, improved in February, signaling that people were frantic to make purchases despite bad weather conditions in February.
Credit Suisse expects traffic to increase in the forthcoming months, on the basis of improving trends, weather and the urgency to capitalize on the homebuyer tax credit, which is due to expire soon.
Strength at lower-price points was a consistent theme in the February responses from agents. According to Credit Suisse, builders focused on first-time buyers, such as DR Horton (NYSE: DHI), KB Home (NYSE: KBH), Meritage Homes (NYSE: MTH) and Ryland Group (NYSE: RYL), are likely to get the best sales.
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