hi in this week’s etf wrap we look at the steep drop in homebuilder etfs this year as new homes sales have fallen in the us amid high prices and rising interest rates please send tips and feedback to christineidzelismarketwatchcom you can also find me on twitter at cidzelis and linkedin homebuilder exchangetraded funds are sliding this year pummeled by rising interest rates and soaring prices in the housing market shares of the ishares us home construction etf itb and spdr sp homebuilders etf xhb have each tumbled more than 30 in 2022 through wednesday according to factset data the hoya capital housing etf homz dropped 22 over the same period while shares of the invesco dynamic building  construction etf pkb slid almost 26 all four etfs have been trading below their 50day moving average for most of this year factset data show “that’s a very important resistance line” to get above for “any sense that momentum could shift to the positive” said frank cappelleri a desk strategist at instinet in a phone interview on tuesday the spdr sp homebuilders etf hit a new 52week low according to cappelleri that’s the day the us government released data showing new home sales tumbled in april “there’s lots of stagflation in the new home market” wrote yardeni research in a note tuesday “a combination of soaring home prices and rapidly rising mortgage rates have slammed the affordability of buying a home” sales of new homes in the us slowed in april to an annual rate of 591000 a steep 166 drop from 709000 in march according to data released tuesday by the us census bureau and the us department of housing and urban development that marked a fourth straight month of declines meanwhile the median price of a new home jumped 196 yearoveryear to a record 450600 yardeni research wrote “it is up 453 over the past 24 months while the average price is up 583 over the same period” adding to concerns over a slowing realestate market the national association of realtors said thursday that its index of pending us home sales fell 39 in april for a sixth straight month of declines lawrence yun the group’s chief economist predicted in the statement that existinghome sales may fall 9 in 2022 saying contract signings are at the slowest pace in almost a decade “if mortgage rates stabilize roughly at the current level of 53 and job gains continue home sales could also stabilize in the coming months” said yun but “if mortgage rates climb to 6 then the sales activity could fall by 15 read pending home sales fall for sixth straight month due to high prices and mortgage rates with interest rates rising while inflation runs hot amid growing fears over a slowing economy invesco’s dynamic building  construction etf has seen outflows so far this year according to rene reyna head of thematic and specialty product strategy at invesco by contrast reyna said by phone that he has seen investors favoring consumer staples a defensive sector through demand for the invesco dynamic food  beverage etf pbj  shares of the etf have dipped just 04 this year through wednesday compared with a loss of 165 for the sp 500 index spx  factset data show “investors are looking for ways to sort of insulate themselves” said reyna here’s your weekly look at the top and bottom performers over the past week through wednesday according to factset data   putnam investments said may 23 that it plans to offer three activelymanaged etfs in the coming months one focused on business development companies a second targeting companies at the intersection of technology and biology and a third investing in companies in emerging markets excluding china and hong kong the regulatory filing process for putnam bdc income etf putnam biorevolution etf and putnam emerging markets exchina etf must first be completed   pgim investments announced may 24 that it launched the pgim floating rate income etf pfrl an activelymanaged fund that invests primarily in senior floatingrate loans “we’ve seen increased demand for floating rate strategies as investors look to protect against rising rates” said stuart parker president and chief executive officer of pgim investments in the announcement   why the fund shorting cathie wood’s arkk is now ultralong the etf cnbc   desire to short cathie wood’s arkk is dropping almost as fast as the fund bloomberg   highvalue bond etf trades rise sharply from last year financial times   sector etfs are drained at record pace with ‘no door out’ bloomberg   investors flood to kweb as the china tech etf took in over 500m of inflows last week seeking alpha   memethemed social mediadriven etfs plummet in value financial times   sec seeks to crack down on fund names etfcom