While many investors in the resource and mining services sector are licking their wounds, and investors in some retail and 'old world' media stocks are continuing to come to terms with the structural changes occurring in their respective industries, one investment theme that has been doing particularly well is property and businesses that have exposure to property development.
As a case in point, building material suppliers CSR (ASX: CSR) and James Hardie Industries (ASX: JHX) both rallied 13% just last week after releasing upbeat results to the market.
With the outlook for continued growth in the property market, investors may be interested in further investigating the following mortgage brokers who stand to gain from home buyers searching for the best deals and lowest interest rates.
Mortgage Choice (ASX: MOC) is the largest of the listed brokers with a market capitalisation of $360 million and a loan book of $47.7 billion. Mortgage Choice also continues to expand its franchisee network, which currently stands at nearly 400.
Homeloans (ASX: HOM) offers borrowers its own tailored mortgage loan offers. The company is currently priced at $101 million and has recently provided guidance to the market for the half year to December 2013, which forecasts a significant improvement in profit over the previous six months to June 2013.
Yellow Brick Road (ASX: YBR) is a recent upstart venture backed by the founder of Wizard Home Loans, Mr Mark Bouris. The company now boasts a market capitalisation of $111 million, 168 branches and an important mortgage product alliance with Macquarie Bank (ASX: MQG).
Foolish takeaway
Given the cyclical nature of the property market, the ideal time to increase exposure to the market is when the sector is at a cyclical low. While that ship has sailed with the investment community awake to the upswing in the cycle, not all stocks have rallied in unison, and given the early stage of recovery, there could still be a long uptrend ahead for investors.
