There’s a lot going on, and not only jawboning about a potential Fed rate increase next week. We have the smoke drifting down from Canada and slowing or stopping flights in the Northeast. The Wall Street Journal reports that China and Cuba have signed an agreement for a Chinese eavesdropping station in Cuba. For rate watchers, Trepp has come out with a report showing interest rates sensitivity with commercial loans, cousin to our residential loans and their sensitivity to refinancing given interest rates. Yes, interest rates impact everything to do with borrowing and lending. New data revealed real estate investors purchased 48.6% fewer homes in Q1 of 2023 than they did a year earlier, according to the latest market report from Redfin. That’s the largest annual decline on record and outpaced the 41 percent drop in overall home purchases in the 40 major metros analyzed. Investor purchases fell 16 percent on a quarter-over-quarter basis, comparable with the 15 percent quart
Two hydrogen atoms meet. One says, “I've lost my electron.” The other asks, “Are you sure?” The first replies, “Yes, I'm positive.” (Yes, its cutting-edge humor like this that keeps you coming back.) Do positive thoughts matter? Houston’s Norina and Ramon Navarro think so. Thinking positive thoughts about the housing inventory in the United States probably won’t help, and I am hearing renewed stories about a lack of inventory and multiple offers at certain price points around the nation. There are only 578,000 active listings nationwide. (This is out of 142 million housing units.) Where’s the supply? Well, what do American Homes 4 Rent, Home Partners of America/Blackstone, Tricon Residential, Main Street Renewal, Progress Residential, Invitation Homes, and a smattering of others have in common? They have accumulated more than 65,000 homes in the Atlanta area alone. Thank you to DepthPR’s Kerri M. for