Seeking Alpha Seeking Alpha Portfolio App for iPad  The Stalwart
submits: While homebuilder stocks such as Toll Brothers
(NYSE:TOL), DR Horton (NYSE:DHI), and Pulte Homes (NYSE:PHM) are
all at least 30% off their 52-week highs, another part of the
property sector has actually been rallying hard- REITs.  Large
apartment REITs such as Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR), Avalonbay
Communities (NYSE:AVB), and Archstone-Smith (NYSE:ASN), are at
all time highs. Housing worries seem to have skipped these
shares entirely and in fact Wall Street has spun housing
weakness into a positive argument for these guys.  What’s the
bullish case being passed around? Well as the housing market
falls, people will buy fewer houses and instead rent more
apartments. And wallah. Increased demand will mean higher rents
and the earnings of these REITs will soar. That’s all it took
for most REITs to rise to levels whereby they are now paying the
lowest dividend yields in the last 10 years. Their spread vs.
treasuries is also the lowest in te