The housing market is red hot. The Federal Housing Finance Agency house-price index rose 12% last yeardue to low inventories and high demand. Redfin, the popular real estate website, reports that nearly40% of homes in the past month have sold above asking price. And the National Association of Realtorsreported that, for the first time in […]
Summary List Placement The pandemic revealed just how thin the line between work and life is for American parents. Without adequate childcare, women in particular were forced to make some tough decisions this year that could harm their careers for years to come, according to new data out from the New York Times. Throughout the […]
Another week, another drop in forbearance volume. Servicers’ forbearance portfolio volume fell two basis points to 3.48% from 3.50% last week, according to a survey from the Mortgage Bankers Association. Approximately 1.74 million homeowners are in forbearance plans, the MBA reported. The share of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans in forbearance also decreased two basis points to 1.81%, and Ginnie Mae loans decreased one basis […]
Summary List Placement Economist Mohamed El-Erian in an interview Monday took aim at assessments of inflation that describe rising prices as “transitory”, stating that there is a fundamental misunderstanding of what inflation is and how it is already spreading throughout the economy. “I always laugh when people say, oh, it’s isolated, it’s transitory,” the Allianz’s […]
Summary List Placement A 20 day strike by 600 Frito-Lay workers in Topeka, Kansas has come to an end after workers negotiated a wage increase, a day off every week, and the end of what workers called “suicide shifts,” where employees get only an eight hour break between shifts. The New York Times first reported […]
New home sales continued to slip in June, falling 6.6% from May to a pace of only 676,000, according to a recent study from the U.S. Census. It’s the third straight month of decreases and the first annual decline since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. June’s pace is also 19.4% below June 2020’s pace […]
Summary List Placement If you’re one of the millions of lucky Americans who recently won the privilege to permanently work from home, you’re probably overwhelmingly grateful for the flexibility you now enjoy. I certainly am. Because I’m no longer tethered to an office, my wife and I were able to move away from San Francisco, […]
Summary List Placement SmartAsset compared the 100 largest US cities. The financial-advice company analyzed the cities based on five metrics: the percentage of housing units with fewer than two bedrooms and the average price of these, median earnings for full-time workers, unemployment rate, and cost of living. It then ranked 10 most affordable cities for […]
Summary List Placement On Sunday in separate appearances on ABC, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Ohio Senator Rob Portman offered up opposing viewpoints on the timeline of passing a bipartisan infrastructure package. Pelosi reinforced her stance to hold up the $1 trillion agreement as Democrats work to finalize a separate $3.5 trillion spending package, in […]
Summary List Placement For millions of Americans, the COVID-19 pandemic changed everything. Unemployment spiked from a near-record low of 3.5% to a whopping 14.8% virtually overnight, and the prospect of finding work remained dim for over a year. As highly effective vaccines and declining infection rates have taken hold this summer, once-shuttered businesses are reopening […]
Summary List Placement Ruby Reid and her fiancé fell in love with Oregon in 2015. Soon after, they purchased a property in Talent, a small city five hours south of Portland, near the California border. A home with room for greenhouses, vegetables, and bees, it seemed like the perfect place for their family farm and […]
Summary List Placement Jason Cabrera became a manager of a Texas fast-food restaurant just one week after his 19th birthday. He started out buttering toast and washing dishes for $9.25 per hour, and now earns $50,000 a year in his senior role. Cabrera, who joined the Allen branch of Layne’s Chicken Fingers in late 2018, […]
Summary List Placement For millions of workers across the country, it’s been 12 years without a raise in the minimum wage. 12 years is a long time. In the past 12 years, we’ve had three different presidents, six Olympics, and seven Fast & Furious movies. But in all that time, the federal minimum wage has […]
Summary List Placement Markets plunged earlier this week as concerns about the outlook swelled. The fear is in many ways understandable. COVID conditions, at least as proxied by cases, are deteriorating. At the same time, worrying economic trends have popped up in the form of a potentially more aggressive Federal Reserve and the market reflecting […]
Summary List Placement When we think of combating climate change, our minds tend to turn to green energy like solar or wind power. But the world of finance has a tremendous impact on the environment, and we’ll never be able to steer away from impending climate calamities until big business takes action. Remarkably, Sarah Bloom […]
Summary List Placement An employee at a chain restaurant in Phoenix, Arizona, told CNN Business that fellow staffers were sometimes “just walking out in the middle of their shifts” amid the US labor shortage. “[Hostesses who] seat the tables, the dishwashers, the bussers … they’ll walk out,” a server at Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen told the […]
With the foreclosure moratorium for federally backed mortgages set to expire next week, the Biden administration is giving borrowers additional options to reduce their mortgage payments. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Department of Agriculture (USDA), and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) will give homeowners options to reduce their monthly principal and interest […]
Summary List Placement Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortex of New York urged President Joe Biden to not allow a federal eviction moratorium to end in eight days, calling it a “reckless” move that would jeopardize the wellbeing of millions of Americans. “I urge the Biden Administration to extend the CDC’s eviction moratorium,” she wrote on Twitter. “It […]
Summary List Placement The labor shortage is tough on the economic recovery. Consumers are spending and employers want to hire, but jobs can’t get filled fast enough right now. There’s several signs that suggest the labor shortage will end soon, according to a Thursday note by the UBS Evidence Lab. But there’s one big reason […]
Summary List Placement Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen sent a letter to Congress urging lawmakers to renew the federal government’s ability to pay off its debt ahead of a major deadline, warning that failing to do so in a timely manner risks major damage for average people and the economic recovery. Republicans led by Senate Minority […]
Summary List Placement On July 31, a set of pandemic-relief measures for renters and homeowners enacted under President Trump will end — and the Biden administration doesn’t appear interested in renewing them. A federal eviction ban is ending on July 31 after an extension last month. It’s the same for a moratorium on foreclosures. But […]
Summary List Placement Something may be changing in the American economy for the worse, and it’s because of the Delta Covid variant. At least that’s what Bank of America research thinks. The stock market had a major wobble on Monday, July 19, as data on the variant — and how many Americans it’s rapidly infecting […]
The following Q&A comes from the HW+ exclusive Slack channel, where HousingWire Senior Real Estate Reporter Matthew Blake answered questions about his latest coverage on the impact of the DOJ’s decision and how the industry is gearing up to respond. During the Q&A, Blake discussed the ramifications of previous DOJ investigations into NAR and conversations he has had […]
Summary List Placement Some jobs don’t need a college degree, and they can make it possible for Americans to be part of the middle-class and enjoy financial security. Insider’s previous reporting on wage data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that some jobs that don’t require a bachelor’s degree pay pretty well, such as air traffic […]
Summary List Placement A federal rule that went into effect in 2020 is taking commercial drivers off our highways if they test positive for illegal drugs. While the idea to crack down on drivers taking dangerous substances is commendable, the majority of those who have lost their licenses thanks to the new law tested positive […]
Summary List Placement People did not immediately return to work in some states that cut federal unemployment insurance (UI) early, a new analysis found. In the 12 states that cut the benefit on either June 12 or 19, employment was largely flat in the weeks after, Arindrajit Dube, an economics professor at University of Massachusetts […]
Summary List Placement Another 2.2. million Americans will start receiving $1400 stimulus checks this week. The third round of stimulus payments, meant to help people who lost income or work during the coronavirus pandemic, is worth over $4 billion, according to the Internal Revenue Service. The latest disbursement brings the total number of payments to 171 […]
Summary List Placement Senate Democrats are pressing the Treasury Department and the IRS to ensure that the poorest families can access what they’re already calling “Social Security for kids.” The first child tax credit payments from President Joe Biden’s stimulus law hit the bank accounts of millions of families last week. But experts and community […]
Summary List Placement The Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program forgives the student debt of public servants after 120 qualifying payments. But while full-time teachers qualify for this relief, adjunct professors don’t. Four Democrats want to change that. On Thursday, Illinois Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth, along with Hawaii Sen. Mazie Hirono and New […]
Summary List Placement If your shopping trips seem to be a bit more expensive lately, it’s likely that your receipt shows something missing: discounts. Likewise, if your visit to any store typically includes a lap past the clearance shelves, you may have noticed the pickings getting slim. “Retailers facing tight inventories are having a tough […]
Summary List Placement Sen. Lindsay Graham of South Carolina has an idea to help Republicans who are strongly determined to oppose a multi-trillion Democratic spending package this summer: The GOP should skip town. The Wall Street Journal reported that Graham is pressing other GOP senators to leave Washington D.C. in a bid to deny Democrats […]
Summary List Placement Economic recovery is largely driving President Joe Biden’s agenda, and to him, a primary part of that recovery means boosting the middle class. To do that, he said the wealthy need to start paying their fair share in taxes. “I’m tired of trickle down,” Biden said during a CNN town hall on […]
The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage sank 10 basis points to 2.78% for the week ending on July 22, continuing several weeks of declines, according to mortgage rates data released Thursday by Freddie Mac‘s PMMS. According to Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist, concerns about the COVID-19 Delta variant and the recovery from the pandemic are […]
Summary List Placement Initial jobless claims for the week ending July 17 came in at 419,000, far higher than the consensus expectation of 350,000, according to Bloomberg. The unexpected spike in the number of Americans newly out of work from last week’s revised figure of 368,000 is another in a series of blips in a […]
Summary List Placement A 19-year-old manager of a Texas chicken restaurant told Insider that he expects to lose half of his staff in the next few weeks. Jason Cabrera runs the Allen, Texas, branch of the Layne’s Chicken Fingers restaurant chain, which promoted teenagers to management roles because of a severe staff shortage. Cabrera, who earns […]
Summary List Placement The leisure hospitality industry appears to be on its way to recovery after adding 343,000 people payrolls in June, making up 40% of total US job gains – but independent restaurants say they still can’t get enough staff. Seventy-four percent of independent restaurant owners say it’s harder to find employees than it […]
Summary List Placement Congressional Democrats slammed Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky on Wednesday for threatening to oppose an extension of the US’s ability to pay its bills, a step that could jeopardize the US’s economic recovery if Congress doesn’t act. Sen. Ron Wyden, chair of the Senate Finance Committee, told reporters that the […]
Summary List Placement Emergencies can happen when you least expect them. Financial advisors recommend people save six to nine months’ worth of expenses in case of an emergency — but 25% of Americans say they have no emergency savings at all, according to a new study from Bankrate. The survey results come as extreme weather […]
Summary List Placement Senate Republicans voted against advancing the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure deal on Wednesday in an early vote. But a key faction called for more time and said they can support the same agreement in four days. Republicans lined up to oppose the blueprint in a 49-51 vote on Wednesday afternoon. The measure […]
Summary List Placement The first batch of $300 monthly payments for children, known as the child tax credit, was just sent out to families last week as part of President Joe Biden’s stimulus law. While they are set to hit families’ bank accounts for the next five months, some Democrats want the payments to be […]
Summary List Placement Millions of Americans are still recovering from the financial turmoil of the pandemic. As part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, some student loan borrowers were granted forbearance — a pause on monthly payments. The relief, however, is coming to an end soon: Borrowers must restart making payments […]
Summary List Placement It’s a common refrain right now: No one wants to work. It’s a twist in the story of a not-quite-post-pandemic economy that left millions of people unemployed, as understaffed businesses struggle to hire and workers quit en-masse. But, as always, the economy is complex, and so are the myriad of people who […]
Mortgage applications decreased 4% for the week ending July 16, just one week after applications jumped 16% on the strength of falling mortgage rates. The 10-year Treasury yield dropped sharply last week, in part due to investors becoming more concerned about the spread of COVID variants and their impact on global economic growth, according to […]
Summary List Placement Sen. Elizabeth Warren took a jab at Jeff Bezos after the world’s richest man returned to Earth from his suborbital space trip with Blue Origin. Bezos addressed a crowd on Tuesday while donning a cowboy hat, saying he wanted to “thank every Amazon employee and every Amazon customer because you guys paid […]
Summary List Placement Following the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA) announcing two weeks ago it would not extend its federal contract to service student loans, another student loan company followed suit on Monday, bringing the total number of borrowers who will have to switch servicers to nearly 10 million. Granite State Management and Resources […]