The HW 30 — HousingWire’s exclusive index of mortgage finance and housing starts — remained mostly steady Tuesday, finishing down a mere 0.01% after the release of key housing data.
Homebuilder stocks moved the most, with at least two rising well over 4% in daily trading, after government data showed building permits on the rise.
The construction of privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits rose 6.2% from September to October, reaching an annual rate of 1.034 million permits for units. This is also up 13.9% from 908,000 authorizations a year earlier.
Permits on single-family homes rose 0.8% from September to October, with 620,000 authorizations reported last month alone.
While HW 30 remained a mixed bag with some mortgage and housing-related stocks down, permits data pushed Lennar Corp. (LEN); Toll Brothers (TOL); and D.R. Horton (DHI) higher.
The biggest mover was Lennar, which rose 4.83% by market close, followed by D.R. Horton, which grew 4.42%.
Luxury builder Toll Brothers saw its stock grow 3.35% by market close.
Real estate firms, especially listing websites, also improved after home price data showed ongoing growth.
Home prices increased 2% in the third quarter of 2013, making it the 9th consecutive quarterly price increase in the seasonally adjusted, purchase-only index, the Federal Housing Finance Agency House Price Index revealed.
Real estate listing site Zillow (Z) rose 5.16% for the day, followed by real estate brokerage operator Reology Holdings (RLGY), which rose 2.59% for the day.
