Existing home sales remained in a weak trend at down 4% year-over-year in November versus down 3% in October and down 2% in Q3, Piper Jaffray analyst Jason Deleeuw tells investors in a research note. The analyst believes the key drivers continue to be tight home inventories and increased discretion by home buyers after years of steady home price gains have reduced affordability. He continues to expect home sales trends to post low- to mid-single-digit declines for 2019. In this environment, Deleeuw's favorite real estate names are Fidelity National Financial (FNF) and RE/MAX Holdings (RMAX) since both have "catalysts/business models not as sensitive to sales volume trends." Fidelity National is the analyst's favorite real estate name given the potential earnings accretion from the pending Stewart (STC) acquisition that he believes is not factored much into the share price. Deleeuw also favors RE/MAX citing its "steady and high return business model that can sustain growth in multiple housing environments." Agent count and agent fees rather than volume drive the bulk of the company's franchise model economics, says Deleeuw.