“Wall Street seems to be extremely interested in the housing sector—the recent successes in our sector demonstrate a wide interest in housing related businesses among the investor community,” Featherston noted. “The RE/MAX organization and brand presents the investment community with a proven, long-term success record in the traditional real estate brokerage and related services, along with a strong technology core. Wall Street embraced Realogy and although different in many respects, I believe RE/MAX offering will also be extremely successful with its public offering.”
Real estate companies that have gone public in recent years have seen success. Realogy shares have climbed about 58 percent since they started trading. The company gained about 60 percent in market value since it went public in a $1.1 billion IPO last October. Shares of Zillow have more than doubled this year. And Trulia, which went public in September at $17 a share, has gained about 184 percent in 2013.
Signaling more good news for the housing industry, prices for single-family homes climbed in 87 percent of U.S. cities in the second quarter, according to the National Association of REALTORS®. The median price nationally was $203,500 nationally, up 12 percent from a year earlier—the biggest gain since the fourth quarter of 2005, NAR reported.
Stay tuned to RISMedia for continuing reports on the housing recovery.
