Buyers’ Strike Continues: Pending Home Sales Drop Again while Inventories of New & Existing Homes Balloon, Especially in the South & West by Wolf Richter • Jan 30, 2025 • 81 Comments Prices are still way too high, that’s the problem in the housing market, but they’ve been dropping substantially in some cities.
Our Drunken Sailors Partied Massively in Q4, Propped Up GDP Growth. Debt-to-GDP Ratio Worsened to 121.8% by Wolf Richter • Jan 30, 2025 • 59 Comments Biggest consumer spending surge in nearly two years overpowered the drop in private domestic investment and change in private inventories.
Powell: In “No Hurry” to Cut, Need to See “Further Progress” on Inflation, No Timeline to End QT (Not Even Close) by Wolf Richter • Jan 29, 2025 • 94 Comments “Companies figured out they do like to raise prices. But we also hear a lot from companies these days that consumers have really had it with price increases.”
Fed Pivots to Wait-and-See, Keeps Rates at 4.25%-4.50%, Restarts Inflation Worries. QT Continues. by Wolf Richter • Jan 29, 2025 • 97 Comments And labor market conditions are no longer easing. The reasons for rate cuts — dropping inflation, weakening labor market — vanished. Pretty hawkish.
Glut of New Houses for Sale in the South Is Bigger Even than during the Housing Bust. The Glut in the West Gets Close by Wolf Richter • Jan 28, 2025 • 122 Comments Prices Are Still Way too High. Something has to give.
Inventory of New Completed Single-Family Houses for Sale Spikes to Highest since 2007. Builders Prop Up Sales with Lower Prices, Bigger Incentives, Smaller Houses by Wolf Richter • Jan 27, 2025 • 122 Comments Sales of new houses in 2024 were decent, while massive demand destruction crushed sales of existing houses because prices are way too high.
DOGE Seeks to Shed Vast Amounts of Government Office Space. Here’s How Much the Government Leases, and Where, and What Leases it Can Shed During Trump’s Term by Wolf Richter • Jan 25, 2025 • 155 Comments For CRE, the motto in 2024 was “Survive till 2025” via extend-and-pretend. Now it’s 2025, and here comes the government’s office space.
Sales of Existing Homes Finally Begin to Thaw a Little, amid Highest Supply for December since 2018 by Wolf Richter • Jan 24, 2025 • 96 Comments 2024 was the worst year since 1995 for sales because prices are too high after the 50% spike in 2019-2022.
Collapse of the Solar Stocks by Wolf Richter • Jan 23, 2025 • 133 Comments This is about stock market craziness, not about solar power.
Subprime, Prime, and Overall Auto-Loan Delinquency Rates: Why this Surge in “Subprime” Delinquencies when “Prime” Is Pristine? by Wolf Richter • Jan 22, 2025 • 55 Comments We’re in the 4th cycle of the subprime profit motive after auto-loan securitizations became a thing in the early 1990s.
