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Should You Invest in the SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF (XHB)?

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Launched on 01/31/2006, the SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF (XHB - Free Report) is a passively managed exchange traded fund designed to provide a broad exposure to the Industrials - Engineering and Construction segment of the equity market.

While an excellent vehicle for long term investors, passively managed ETFs are a popular choice among institutional and retail investors due to their low costs, transparency, flexibility, and tax efficiency.

Additionally, sector ETFs offer convenient ways to gain low risk and diversified exposure to a broad group of companies in particular sectors. Industrials - Engineering and Construction is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 10, placing it in bottom 38%.

Index Details

The fund is sponsored by State Street Global Advisors. It has amassed assets over $1.19 billion, making it one of the average sized ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Industrials - Engineering and Construction segment of the equity market. XHB seeks to match the performance of the S&P Homebuilders Select Industry Index before fees and expenses.

The S&P Homebuilders Select Industry Index represents the homebuilding sub-industry portion of the S&P Total Markets Index. The S&P TMI tracks all the US common stocks listed on the NYSE, AMEX, NASDAQ National Market and NASDAQ Small Cap exchanges. The Homebuilders Index is a modified equal weight index.

Costs

Since cheaper funds tend to produce better results than more expensive funds, assuming all other factors remain equal, it is important for investors to pay attention to an ETF's expense ratio.

Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.35%, making it one of the least expensive products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.81%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

While ETFs offer diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk, a deep look into a fund's holdings is a valuable exercise. And, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

This ETF has heaviest allocation in the Consumer Discretionary sector--about 63.90% of the portfolio, followed by Industrials.

Looking at individual holdings, Trane Technologies Plc (TT - Free Report) accounts for about 4.12% of total assets, followed by Carlisle Cos Inc (CSL - Free Report) and Johnson Controls Internation (JCI - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 37.01% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

So far this year, XHB has lost about -9.53%, and is down about -10.15% in the last one year (as of 06/16/2025). During this past 52-week period, the fund has traded between $86.79 and $125.54.

The ETF has a beta of 1.28 and standard deviation of 27.01% for the trailing three-year period, making it a high risk choice in the space. With about 37 holdings, it has more concentrated exposure than peers.

Alternatives

SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF sports a Zacks ETF Rank of 4 (Sell), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. XHB, then, is not a great choice for investors seeking exposure to the Industrials ETFs segment of the market. However, there are better ETFs in the space to consider.

Invesco Building & Construction ETF (PKB - Free Report) tracks Dynamic Building & Construction Intellidex Index. The fund has $216.96 million in assets. PKB has an expense ratio of 0.57%.

Bottom Line

To learn more about this product and other ETFs, screen for products that match your investment objectives and read articles on latest developments in the ETF investing universe, please visit Zacks ETF Center.

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