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On the heels of news that the housing market is finally on the rebound, the stock market rallied Wednesday, largely on the performance of housing stocks. Buyers snapped the stocks up as they returned to the market, with the Dow Jones industrial average rising more than 100 points at the close of business.
The iShares DJ US Home Construction Index Fund exchange-traded fund and the MSCI US REIT Index are both near four-year highs, according to CNBC.
Reports that homebuilder confidence has soared to its highest level in five years, along with a 6 percent jump in housing starts in June -- the highest since October 2008 -- caused a spike in homebuilder stocks. Two builders, KB Home and Hovnanian Enterprises, were both up close to 1 percent.
"Builder confidence increased by solid margins in every region of the country in July as views of current sales conditions, prospects for future sales and traffic of prospective buyers all improved," Barry Rutenberg, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders, told CNN Money.
Maybe housing will become the bright spot in the economy for a change.
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