Eisman: Best Housing Stocks to Buy in 2013

In New York City last week investors from around the country gathered for the Ira Sohn Conference to pitch their lists of the best stocks to buy in 2013.

One of the more interesting presentations this year featured Steve Eisman of Emrys Partners, who gave a presentation that was very bullish on the prospects for the U.S. housing market.

While many investors have proffered opinions of the strength and validity of housing market performance, investors should pay especially close attention to Eisman when he speaks on the subject.

Eisman has shown he knows how to evaluate and profit from this market. He successfully profited from the market top in 2007.

Eisman was featured in Michael Lewis' book on subprime mortgages, "The Big Short," as one of the investors who made huge bets against the housing market at the top of the bubble and raked in billions of profits.

Now, he's picking the bottom. If he's right again, the profits could be just as large on the upside as they were during the collapse.

In his Ira Sohn presentation, Eisman pointed out that monthly payments as a percentage of income for mortgages is at an all-time low of just 14% and inventories of available homes are at a multi-year low. He thinks the growth is just beginning, and aided by very low interest rates we could see strong growth in the industry for several years.

He listed several of the best housing stocks to buy that would allow investors to profit from this continued recovery.

He favors home builders that have substantial land inventory as we go into the recovery. Those builders who have built up their land holdings over the past couple of year should amass substantial profits form reselling land purchased on the cheap.

Here are three housing stocks to buy in 2013, according to Eisman, including what he calls the "most powerful" play in the sector this year.