Diana Olick’s Post

Sometimes, in the numbers game that is the lifeblood of a #realestate journalist, the numbers just get wonky. And weird. And don't make sense at face value. So we dive in and attempt to explain. #realestateinvesting #housing #mortgage #mortgagerates #economy #finance #fed #interestrates Robert Dietz National Association of Home Builders National Association of REALTORS®CoreLogic Selma Hepp, PhD

So here's a new one... I get a few hundred pitches a day (no lie), and many more on days when specific government housing data is released. With new home sales out today, the deluge of quotes from expert commentators began, but I was struck by a note at the bottom of one: "Please note: This commentary was written entirely by a human expert. It was not generated by AI." That's a first...but I'm guessing not the last.

And you wonder why the sales market is grinding to a halt... The general consensus is that prices will start to ease, but that was the general consensus last summer too. Prices eased a little bit at the end of last year, but just surged higher again a few months later. My biggest wonder -- how the election will affect how people feel about investing in anything right now. #realestate #realestateinvesting #housing #mortgage #mortgagerates #fed #economy Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies S&P Global Brian Luke, CFA

It's still a very strange market: Inventory rises to a four-year high, but prices are still rising. #Mortgage rates are sitting stubbornly over 7%. Buyer demand is still strong despite just bad affordability. Home builders are pulling back slightly, despite a shortage of homes for sale. Rents are still rising, despite tons of new supply. National Association of REALTORS® Lawrence Yun #realestate #realestateinvesting #housing #mortgagerates #inflation #fed

This monthly report doesn't just cover sales, but is chock full of other data that often says more about the state of the #housing market than just how many homes changed hands. Prices Inventory First-time buyer share Investor share ...and one I'm particularly fond of, the sales by price tier and share of the market by price tier. Full disclosure: I like it because they only started doing it several years ago after I bugged them for the data each month ;). April was particularly interesting because it showed the biggest jump in inventory was in $1m+ homes and consequently the biggest jump in sales was in that tier as well. $1m+ now makes up roughly 8% of total sales. Five years ago that price tier made up just 3% of sales . It shows you not just the crazy #inflation in #housing but also the lack of affordable homes even listed. Part of that is due to investors holding so many homes in that affordable category, and part of it is that builders just aren't able to build affordable homes anymore. Part of it also is that owners in that price category can't afford to move up. National Association of REALTORS® National Association of Home Builders Lawrence Yun #realestate #realestateinvesting #homeownership #personalfinance #economy #mortgage #mortgagerates

I've been in #Iceland this week at Climeworks, the newest, largest direct air capture #carbon removal plant in the world. The technology is fascinating, but the speed to scale is the real story here. The co-CEO, Jan Wurzbacher, told me that while the plant can operate for up to 25 years, he'd rather it not because R&D is already outdoing itself, making the next plant more efficient and cheaper. Climeworks is now in the U.S. working on a plant in Louisiana. Soon DAC will pop up all over the nation, making it potentially as common as #wind and #solar farms. CNBC Orka náttúrunnar / ON Power Carbfix Lisa Rizzolo Sanfuentes #climate #climatechange #climatecrisis #carbonremoval #directaircapture #DAC

As we talk about #inflation and the next moves from the #Fed, this has to be front and center. Yes, this is a three-month moving average going back to December, when rates were lower, but prices are still heating up in much of the country due to low supply and strong demand. There are some pockets starting to cool, but not a lot. The big winners here are the #homebuilders, who can buy down #mortgagerates and offer other incentives. #TMH #LEN #DHI #PHM #realestate #realestateinvesting #housing #federalreserve S&P Global Brian Luke, CFA

We've been talking about the lock-in effect for over a year now, but sometimes looking at the cold, hard numbers helps make it super clear. Here are the costs to move up and to move to the exact same home you're in now. Both numbers are nuts. It's all because the Fed dropped rates to record lows, and recovering from that will be pretty ugly. Affordability is unlikely to recover any time soon. ICE Mortgage Technology Andy Walden CoreLogic Redfin #realestate #realestateinvesting #housing #mortgage #mortgagerates #economy #personalfinance #realestateinvestor #homeprices #affordablehousing