We recently compiled a list of the 10 Best Real Estate and Realty Stocks To Buy According to Hedge Funds. In this article, we are going to take a look at where AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) stands against the other real estate and realty stocks.

Trump’s Win: Implications for Housing

As reported by Realtor, America’s newly elected president Trump has blamed illegal immigration for the country’s housing affordability crisis since these immigrants are in the race for an already short supply of homes and hence, plans to do the largest deportation operation in American history. It is important to consider that the recent post-pandemic surging home prices started off before the illegal immigration levels climbed. Furthermore, Realtor.com senior economist Ralph McLaughlin referred to this move as something that would create negative consequences for the housing market by stating:

“In the short run, reducing immigration could severely hurt the labor supply needed for new homebuilding since up to a third of residential construction employment consists of foreign-born workers”

Simultaneously, Trump wants to cut regulations and permit requirements that add unnecessary costs to new homes. Regarding this, economists believe that although reduced regulations might lower homebuilding costs, they would neither solve the entire housing crisis nor fulfill Trump’s dream of cutting the cost of a new home in half by eliminating regulations.

Where are the Mortgage Rates Heading Post-Election?

Mortgage rates are directly tied to 10-year Treasury bond yields which tend to grow with investors forecasting stronger economic growth and higher inflation. According to Mortgage News Daily, the 30-year fixed mortgage rates briefly rose, settling at 6.98% following Trump’s victory. Despite two rate cuts by the Fed, the rate has surged by almost 1% since the month of September.

Trump has also stated his enthusiasm related to somehow lowering mortgage rates, without a clear mechanism unveiled as of yet. Economists and analysts believe that the President’s economic agenda could potentially lead to a surge in mortgage rates. Trump has plans to reduce tax rates, impose tariffs on foreign goods, and ease regulations, policies that are going to lead to a rise in inflation and government debt, which is going to drive up the interest rates and mortgage rates. Before the elections, 16 Nobel Prize-winning economists agreed that Trump’s policies would fuel inflation, calling Joe Biden’s economic agenda vastly superior to Donald Trump’s.

Doug Bauer, CEO of Tri Pointe Homes, joined CNBC to discuss what’s next for the US housing market. He sees the lower corporate tax and the easing of regulations for banks as positives. With banks being encouraged to put dollars into all businesses especially the land and land development business to small and medium-sized builders, it is going to help the industry as a whole. Regarding the deportation, he believes the discussion is pretty early but his company, as a larger builder, has not faced any problems on the labor side of the equation. Finally, he mentioned that the core issue remains the supply. While a reduction in interest rates would unlock the resale market, the new homebuilding is a ‘state and local issue’ as there are a lot of regulations pulling back the land that could be utilized to build affordable housing.

Ivy Zelman, Zelman and Associates CEO, also appeared on an interview with CNBC, to reiterate Bauer’s point about the issue regarding the new home market. In her opinion, the housing market weakness is at the entry level while the move-up market remains strong and resilient despite rates moving higher. While first-time homebuyers are facing extreme affordability issues, she thinks cities and municipalities could partner with local builders to utilize land that’s not out so far in the rural areas and that the solution lies at the local government level. Trump also plans to open up federal land for building. However, a limitation of this would be a lack of federal land located near the places where people wish to work and live.

Our Methodology:

In order to compile a list of the 10 best real estate and realty stocks to buy according to hedge funds, we first use a stock screener to make an extended list of the relevant companies with the highest market caps. Moving on, we shortlisted the top 10 stocks from our list which had the highest number of hedge fund holders. The 10 best real estate and realty stocks to buy according to hedge funds have been arranged in ascending order of their hedge fund holders as of Q3.

At Insider Monkey we are obsessed with the stocks that hedge funds pile into. The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).

AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 35

Avalonbay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) is a leading multifamily real estate investment trust that develops, redevelops, acquires, and manages distinctive apartment homes in the best US markets across 12 states and Washington, DC. The firm owned or held a direct or indirect ownership interest in 305 apartment communities comprising 92,908 apartment homes in 12 states and the District of Columbia, as of September 30.

The firm has a leading position in the multifamily housing sector with its well-established portfolio. This portfolio is focused on coastal markets that have delivered solid same-store net operating income growth. The company has also been benefitting from market conditions such as the strong inclination towards renting rather than home buying and the low new supply in the firm’s suburban coastal markets.

For the third quarter, the firm’s Core FFO per share grew 3% year-over-year while the EPS climbed 115.7% over the year. At the same time, Same Store Residential revenue rose 3.1% year-over-year. In terms of the development activity, Avalonbay Communities, Inc. (NYSE:AVB) completed the development of two communities including Avalon Bothell Commons I and Kanso Milford. Simultaneously, the firm started the construction of four apartment communities.

Overall AVB ranks 10th on our list of the best real estate and realty stocks to buy according to hedge funds. While we acknowledge the potential of AVB as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some deeply undervalued AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for a deeply undervalued AI stock that is more promising than AVB but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.