The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 200 points this past week, ending its worst five-day trading period of the year.
Still, on the housing front, the stocks of several mortgage servicers and builders finished relatively strong, buoyed by positive information coming out of the housing market.
At market close on Friday, the HW 30 (HW 30) – HousingWire’s equity index of companies supporting the housing economy – remained in solid territory, up 0.04%, to 1,007.69 late in the afternoon. The index was driven by gains among servicers, including Nationstar Mortgage Holdings (NSM) (up 3.06% to a closing price of $49.84) and Ocwen Financial Corp. (OCN) (up 2.37% to a closing price of $51.42).
Other bright spots surfaced among mortgage insurers and real estate listing sites.
Mortgage insurer MGIC Investment Corp. (MTG) rose Friday, closing up 2.13%, while online real estate sites Trulia (TRLA) and Zillow (Z) finished up 5.47% and 3.45%, respectively.
Builders for the most part continued to rise, reacting to Thursday’s strong builder confidence report and a positive housing starts report driven by multifamily activity.
While luxury homebuilder Toll Brothers (TOL) ended Friday down by 1.76%, builders overall remained a bright spot among the HW 30. Pulte Group (PHM) concluded the day 2.33% higher after experiencing a 5% surge a day earlier, and was followed by Lennar Corp. (LEN), which rose 1.80% by close on Friday. D.R. Horton (DHI), on the other hand, slipped a slight 0.63% by market close.
Homebuilder stocks remained in positive territory for the most part after a week of steady climbing – even in the wake of data that showed single-family housing starts cooling a bit, while starts overall grew in July.
