Homebuilder sentiment climbed for the second monthin November, according to the NAHB survey released Tuesday, although levels remained at historically low levels. Where does the sector go from here? Daniel Oppenheim, homebuilder analyst at Credit Suisse, and Cameron Findlay, chief economist at LendingTree.com, shared their insights.
“It’s still a very difficult environment—we’ve seen a couple of indicators suggesting that home prices are continuing to decline,” Findlay told CNBC.
“For example, the CoreLogic indicators suggest we saw a 1.9 percent decline in September; the Case-Shiller [home price index] that should come out on Nov. 30 will probably also indicate a decline, so we’re still seeing some challenges there.”
Meanwhile, Oppenheim said he expects housing issues to persist for the next few months.
“There’s still a pricing issue for new homes out there,” Oppenheim told CNBC. “New home prices have not fallen as much as existing home prices—and until we see more of a decline there, we think it’s going to be a very difficult environment to sell the new homes.”
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Scorecard—What They Said:
- Findlay's Previous Appearance on CNBC (Oct. 4, 2010)
- Oppenheim's Previous Appearance on CNBC (Aug. 31, 2010)
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More Market Intelligence:
- Is It Time to End the Mortgage Tax Deduction?
- Invest in These 2 Homebuilders: Analyst
- The Shrinking House: Downsizing the American Dream
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CNBC Slideshows:
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CNBC Data Pages:
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Top Homebuilders:
Lennar
Toll Brothers
D.R. Horton
KB Home
Pulte Home
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Disclosures:
Oppenheim does not own shares of DHI or LEN, but has investment banking clients who own shares of RYL.
Credit Suisse owns and has investment-banking clients owns shares of KBH, MDC, PHM, TOL and HOV.
Credit Suisse provided non-investment banking services for PHM, TOL, KBH, MDC and HOV and managed or co-managed public offering for BZH.
No immediate information was available for Findlay or Oppenheim.
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