As Life Happens, “Locked-in” Homeowners Pay Off Below-4% Mortgages: Share Drops to 54%, Lowest since Q4 2020 by Wolf Richter • Apr 1, 2025 • 47 Comments Conversely, the share of 6%-plus mortgages outstanding surges to the highest since 2016.
Not Another Free Lunch: Don’t Let Fannie and Freddie Turn Back into GSEs by Edward Pinto and Alex Pollock • Apr 1, 2025 • 25 Comments “The risk is 99% public and the profit is 100% private.”
Underlying Labor Market Dynamics Still Tight Despite Highest Gov Layoffs & Discharges since Census Wind-Down of 2020 by Wolf Richter • Apr 1, 2025 • 15 Comments Hiring Begins to Shift to Private-Sector where Hiring Jumped, while Hiring by Governments Slumped.
Status of US Dollar as Global Reserve Currency: Central Banks Diversify into Other Currencies and Gold by Wolf Richter • Mar 31, 2025 • 114 Comments The surge of the “nontraditional reserve currencies.”
Could a Market Meltdown Trigger the Next Recession? by Wolf Richter • Mar 29, 2025 • 118 Comments Wolf Richter on Thoughtful Money.
Bad Settlements Beat Good Lawsuits: A CRE Landlord, a Restaurant, and Commercial Rents that Plunged by John McNellis • Mar 29, 2025 • 29 Comments Greed may not kill, but it does have a way of clouding one’s judgment.
Inflation Galore Now: Fed Started Rate Cuts at the Low Point 6 Months Ago, just as Inflation Began to Resurge by Wolf Richter • Mar 28, 2025 • 105 Comments Core PCE price index jumps MoM by most in 13 months on Non-Housing Services. Recreational Services blow out. Durable Goods continue 6-month trip out of deflation.
US Government Fiscal Mess: Debt, Deficit, Interest Payments, and Tax Receipts: Q4 2024 Update on an Ugly Situation by Wolf Richter • Mar 27, 2025 • 162 Comments The Deficit-to-GDP ratio and Debt-to-GDP ratio get even uglier.
In the South & West, Pending Sales of Existing Homes Mark Worst February in the Data, as Inventories in Florida, Texas, California Surge by Wolf Richter • Mar 27, 2025 • 52 Comments Frozen sales meet ballooning inventories.
Home Buyers Still on Strike, Waiting for Lower Prices, Lower Rates, and Higher Incomes by Wolf Richter • Mar 26, 2025 • 107 Comments Demand for mortgages to purchase a home has plunged by nearly double the rate of sales of existing homes.
