Shipping Delays, Rates Mellow, Market Euphoria?
Shipping delays, especially for smaller retails who use the more affordable USPS, are worse than ever this year as online retail volume increased nearly double the expected 20% increase. The retailer in this story experienced 20% of orders delayed up to 4 days (in addition to loss of packages) and had to eat the cost […]
Thanksgiving Dinner 35 Year Low, Homes Appreciate 7% Nationwide
For 2020, the average cost of a Thanksgiving Dinner for 10 people was $46.90. This is a 4% decrease from last year and the lowest level since 2010. If you adjust for inflation, there hasn’t been a cheaper year since the survey started in 1986. Turkey prices dropped 7% year over year to $1.21 per […]
New Construction Demand, Home Sales on Fire
“We have been under producing for the past decade,” – Lawrence Yun, chief Economist of NAR hopes that an infastructure bill will bring high speed internet and public transportation to rural areas increasing the demand to build in places where it is cheaper and quicker to build housing. Rates – improved slightly this week as […]
Higher Priced Homes Selling, Builders Confident, Forbearance Update
Homes in the $100,000 to $250,000 range only saw a 4% gain in sales compared to a year ago, while sales of homes costing more than $1 million more than doubled. Lawrence Yun Rates – ticked up marginally this week maintaing the slight upward trend over the last quarter. They remain nearly 1% lower than […]
$100 Bill, Single Family Construction Strength, Job Update
Currently there is about $2T in US paper money in worldwide circulation, roughly $200B more than last year. There are more $100 bills than $1 bills in circulation. Does the $100 bill make the cost of doing illegal business too low, and is it too easy for the ultra-rich to store cash reserves and limit […]
Duels, Gambling, & Finance, Home Appreciation, Jobs
John Law – wins in a duel in London and is convicted of murder. He escapes from prison, flees the country, and arrives in France. There he leverages his understanding of statistics to earn a small fortune gambling, which he builds into a large fortune by creating a paper money system and giving birth to […]
Consumer Trends, Rates Inch Up, Home Sales on Fire
In addition to purchasing more groceries, consumer buying patterns have impacted other non-obvious sectors. Sales are up on cigarettes, used cars, energy, camp supplies, and fake meat. Rates – moved up slightly this week as the 10 Year US Treasury increased for the 3rd consecutive week. Rates are down 3/4% from this time last year. […]
Home Sales Soar & Jobless Claims Continue
Rates – mortgage rates decreased slightly this week after increasing noticeably last week. Rates are down 3/4% from this time last year. Jobs – the number of people filing for unemployment for the first time increased this week and bumped above the 1M threshold. If you add the number of people filing for unemployment on […]
Location? Jobs, Rent, Appreciation
Housing Boom – suddenly the mantra location, location, location doesn’t seem as relevant when: many people are working remotely, most schools are going virtual, and everyone wants more space. Redfin site traffic is up 40% since the pandemic and pending sales are at historic highs. The traffic to listings that are in towns with populations […]
GDP Contracts, Rates Improve, Appreciation Strong
GDP – the headline figure for the worst GDP report on record was -33%, does that mean that 1/3 of our economy evaporated in one quarter? The report showed that we produced 9.5% less in Q2 than Q1. If we continue on this rate for an entire year, then the economy would contract by a […]