Happy Friday, friends! It’s been six weeks since Maverick has come into this world and while he is still just a little blob that eats and sleeps all day, every day, he is pretty dang cute while he does it. He really loves snuggling and had started to give us these big smiles and coos and stretches and does all the cute baby things you would want a baby to do. He’s also been putting on that baby weight in his cheeks and thighs making him extra squishy and his snuggles extra snuggly 🙂
Nearly every day, Compass’s Leonard Steinberg puts together a handful of real estate news bits that are always so interesting I have to share some of my favorites of the week. To receive these every day from Leonard, please click [_here](mailto:ls@compass.com “”) and include your full name and email address to get on his mailing list.
* A British think tank report analysing the financial reports from 1,350 companies listed in the U.K., U.S., Germany, Brazil and South Africa from the Institute For Public Policy Research and CommonWealth said that big firms made inflation peak higher and remain more persistent, particularly within the oil and gas, food production and commodities sectors. Some corporations and sectors – including temporary market power emerging in the aftermath of the pandemic – amplified inflation. They found nominal profits were on average 30% higher at the end of 2022 than at the end of 2019. This does not necessarily mean that overall profit margins have risen, but it does mean that higher prices have been shouldered by consumers. Corporate profits were not the sole driver of inflation and did not cause the energy market shock following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. (CNBC)
* Is pent-up buyer demand breaking? 62% of home buyers are willing to wait for prices and/or rates to fall before buying a home…..but that is down from 85% just 6 months ago. (BOFA Report)
* CONGRATULATIONS to COMPASS Commercial New York super-star Lauren Curcio named one of the “Top 30 Under 30” Commercial Brokers in NYC by The Commercial Observer.
* More than any other generation, millennials believe making it – truly making it – means buying a house, a Bank of America Homebuyer Insights Report has found. 58% of millennials surveyed felt homeownership is more important now than it was for their parents, and an even higher percentage (60%) of Gen Z agreed, while only 26% of Baby Boomers felt the same.
Younger people are “disproportionately hurt” by spiking mortgage rates and older millennials (those who are currently 35 to 45) face a “bigger financial burden” than other age groups as a result of having the largest share of outstanding student loans and the fastest rise in credit card delinquencies, the report noted. (BOA)
* In Seattle, Boulder and Santa Fe, ballot measures to raise revenue for housing measures appear poised to pass. The Seattle measure would triple a local real estate tax. Boulder’s would renew an existing sales tax. And Santa Fe’s so-called mansion tax would apply to homes sold for more than $1 million.
* In the latest University of Michigan consumer sentiment survey the 1-year outlook for the inflation rate slid to 3.1%, down sharply from 4.5% in November and the lowest since March 2021. The 5-year outlook also moved lower, down to 2.8% from 3.2% the previous month. (CNBC)
* Economist reporter Aziz Sunderji believes home price escalation will be muted over the next few years….The economy has grown surprisingly rapidly over the past few years. But home prices have grown even faster. Today, two valuation anchors for home prices—the price to rent ratio and the price to income ratio—are both wildly stretched. You can subscribe to his weekly newsletter Home Economics HERE.