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Should You Invest in the iShares U.S. Home Construction ETF (ITB)?

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Designed to provide broad exposure to the Consumer Discretionary - Broad segment of the equity market, the iShares U.S. Home Construction ETF (ITB - Free Report) is a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on May 1, 2006.

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.

Sector ETFs also provide investors access to a broad group of companies in particular sectors that offer low risk and diversified exposure. Consumer Discretionary - Broad 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 Blackrock. It has amassed assets over $2.74 billion, making it one of the largest ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Consumer Discretionary - Broad segment of the equity market. ITB seeks to match the performance of the Dow Jones U.S. Select Home Construction Index before fees and expenses.

The Dow Jones U.S. Select Home Construction Index comprises of U.S. equities in the home construction sector.

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 0.39%, making it one of the cheaper products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.56%.

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 78.3% of the portfolio. Industrials and Materials round out the top three.

Looking at individual holdings, D R Horton Inc (DHI) accounts for about 14.3% of total assets, followed by Lennar A Corp Class A (LEN) and Nvr Inc (NVR).

The top 10 holdings account for about 66.55% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

Year-to-date, the iShares U.S. Home Construction ETF has lost about 2% so far, and is down about 13.91% over the last 12 months (as of 08/04/2025). ITB has traded between $85.52 and $129.34 in this past 52-week period.

The ETF has a beta of 1.26 and standard deviation of 28.32% for the trailing three-year period, making it a high risk choice in the space. With about 50 holdings, it has more concentrated exposure than peers.

Alternatives

iShares U.S. Home Construction ETF sports a Zacks ETF Rank of 4 (Sell), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. ITB, then, is not a great choice for investors seeking exposure to the Consumer Discretionary ETFs segment of the market. However, there are better ETFs in the space to consider.

Vanguard Consumer Discretionary ETF (VCR) tracks MSCI US Investable Market Consumer Discretionary 25/50 Index and the Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLY) tracks Consumer Discretionary Select Sector Index. Vanguard Consumer Discretionary ETF has $6.00 billion in assets, Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR ETF has $21.68 billion. VCR has an expense ratio of 0.09%, and XLY charges 0.08%.

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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