CRTC vs HOMZ

CRTCBXtrackers US National Critical Technologies ETF

HOMZBHoya Capital Housing ETF

In short

CRTC Less a tech fund than a national-security screen. CRTC holds developed-market large and mid caps tied to the 14 critical technology areas the Pentagon defined, then filters them by how entangled each company is with adversarial nations.

HOMZ Most housing ETFs pick a lane: homebuilders or apartment REITs. HOMZ buys the whole chain, landlords, builders, home-improvement retailers and housing finance and tech names, sizing each segment by its share of GDP.

Stated mandate

CRTC The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the performance of the Solactive Whitney U.S. Critical Technologies Index.

HOMZ The Fund seeks to track the performance of the Hoya Capital Housing 100TM Index before fees and expenses.

Why people hold it

• CRTC Two screens, not one: association with a DoD-defined critical technology area, then a geostrategic risk rating on each company's exposure to adversarial versus Five Eyes countries.dws.combusinesswire.com
• The 14 areas run from biotechnology and quantum science to microelectronics and advanced materials, so the roughly 220 holdings reach well past software and chips.dws.com
• Costs 0.35% a year against a 0.57% median for the US thematic funds we grade. Pays quarterly.
• The portfolio closely matches the mandate in its prospectus, and it sits in the top quartile of its thematic peer group on our review.

• HOMZ Four housing segments in one ticker: rental operators, builders, home improvement and furnishings, and housing finance, tech and services, each sized by its contribution to GDP rather than market cap.sec.gov
• The 2019 original: launched as the first ETF offering diversified exposure across the entire US housing sector, and still tracking the index its adviser built.prnewswire.com
• 0.30% a year, below the 0.45% median for its index-tracking peers, on an index reconstituted and rebalanced on a set schedule each June and December.sec.govsec.gov 2
• Distributions arrive monthly rather than quarterly, a cadence more common among bond funds than equity sector funds.

Worth knowing

• CRTC Not the cheapest shelf in the aisle: peers LRND (0.14%) and TECB (0.30%) undercut it, though they screen for different things.
• A smaller, thinly traded fund. The prospectus flags bid-ask spread costs, which tend to bite more in lightly traded names.dws.com
• The security screen rests on J.H. Whitney's proprietary model and the index rebalances in May and November, so the roster can shift meaningfully at each reset.dws.com

• HOMZ A small, thinly traded fund. Spreads can run wider than on mega-cap index trackers, and small funds carry more risk of being closed or repositioned.
• One industry, roughly 100 stocks. Housing moves with mortgage rates and construction cycles, so this can drift well apart from a broad market fund.
• Cheap for a themed index fund, still a multiple of plain broad-market trackers: SCHK charges 0.03% and VT 0.06%.

Full CRTC profile⁠

Full HOMZ profile⁠