...Sluggish Trends: What began as an untypically moderate housing recovery has decelerated since late 2013. But demographics, attractive affordability/housing valuations, and a slow, steady easing in credit standards should sustain and ultimately accelerate the upturn. The latest economic and housing macro statistics are generally encouraging. Recovery Supports Ratings, Likely Some Upgrades: Fitch Ratings expects stable ratings for most issuers within the homebuilding sector during second-half 2014, as residential statistical comparisons ease and the economy strengthens. Of course, financial performance will vary among issuers, reflecting customer, geographic and product strengths. Public Builders Continue to Largely Outperform: Generally, the major builders reported higher prices and margins, and much better profits during first-quarter 2014. Most reported low to mid single-digit declines in orders. However, the unit backlog averaged a 4.8% gain (17.7% on a dollar basis). The implied price...
