Homebuilder stocks take a broad beating as rising long-term interest rates raises affordability concerns

Shares of home builders took a broad beating Thursday, amid growing concerns over housing affordability as interest rates have been surging. The iShares U.S. Home Construction ETF
ITB,
+0.01%
dropped 2.6% in morning toward the lowest close since June 5, with 44 of 46 of its equity components losing ground. Shares of KB Home
KBH,
-0.26%
sank 3.3%, also toward a 3 1/2-month low, even after the homebuilder reported fiscal third-quarter earnings that beat expectations and raised its full-year outlook. Among KB Home’s more active peers, shares of D.R. Horton Inc.
DHI,
-0.25%
shed 3.6%, of Builders FirstSource Inc.
BLDR,
+0.83%
slid 4.6%, of PulteGroup Inc.
PHM,
-0.42%
declined 3.9%, of Toll Brothers Inc.
TOL,
+0.20%
tanked 3.2% and of Lennar Corp.
LEN,
-0.11%
lost 3.2%. The sector’s selloff comes amid disappointing home sales data as the yield on the 10-year Treasury note
TMUBMUSD10Y,
4.443%,
which influences mortgage rates, jumped 0.133 percentage points to 4.482%, the highest rate seen in 16 years, after the Federal Reserve indicated it was not necessarily done raising interest rates.