Weekly News (March 1, 2023)

Mortgage Interest Rates Review

(Fairway Home Loan 3/1/2023)

Federal Fund Rate: 4.50% -4.75%        Prime Rate: 7.50%-7.75%

400 unit apt complex project in Palisades Park faces huddle:팰팍 대형 아파트 건설 반대

(Korea Times   3/1/2023)

• Town council meeting on 27th triggers the objection by residents for the 400 unit apartment complex project in Fairview St.
• Mayor Paul Kim is opposing the project and new council member S.J. Min follows Mayor’s opinion, and Jason Kim and Michael Vieteri as well.  Among 6 members, 4 members are Korean.
• The plan is facing a major huddle since the Mayor and followers are in opposing position.

New Jersey Property Tax Rate ranked #1 in US: 뉴저지 주 재산세률 또 전국 1위

(Korea Daily   2/24/23)

• According to Wallet Hub Rating, NJ Tax rate is 2.47% which ranks #1 in U.S..  While NJ’s median house price is $355,700, NJ average property tax would $8,797, which is three times of the U.S. average property tax of $2,690.
• Property Tax in Illinois Sate is the 2nd highest in U.S. While their tax rate is 2.23%, their median home price is $212,600 which means average tax is about $4,744.
• CT – 2.15% / NY – 1.73% (8th ranking. Median price is $346,000, Average tax is $5,884) / Hawaii – 0.29%àLowest  / Alabama – 0.41%  /  Colorado – 0.51%.

Apartment Rents Fall as Market Sees Wave of New Supply:  큰 공급소식에 아파트 가격 하강 조짐

(WSJ    2/28/23)

• Apartment rents fell in every major metropolitan area in the U.S. over the past six months through January, a trend that is poised to continue as the biggest delivery of new apartments in nearly four decades is slated for this year. Nearly half a million new apartments are coming on line this year as developers seek to cash in on the high rents that tenants have been paying.
• Renters with new leases in January paid a median rent that was 3.5% lower than they would have paid last August, according to estimates from listing website Apartment List. It was the first time in five years that rent fell every month over a six-month period, according to the same estimates.

Home Price Increases Eased Last Year: 주택가격 상승률, 2022년 부터 저하

(WSJ   3/1/2023)

• Home-price growth decelerated in 2022 after a rapid rise in mortgage rates priced many buyers out of the market.
• The S& P CoreLogic Case-Shiller National Home Price Index rose 5.8% in the year ended in December, down from a 7.6% annual rate the prior month. The increase was the lowest December- to-December change since 2019.
• On a monthly basis, the index fell 0.8% in December compared with November, the sixth straight month-over-month decline. Existing-home sales dropped 17.8% in 2022 to the lowest level since 2014.

CoreLogic Case-Shiller Index

Fed Minutes Signal More Slow Rate Hikes: 2월준비 위원회기록에 완만한 이자률 상승 신호

(WSJ   2/23/23)

• The Fed Officials at their meeting earlier this month agreed to slow rate increases by lifting their benchmark federal-funds rate by a quarter-percentage point, according to the Minutes released by Wed.
• While the quarter-point rate rise was backed unanimously by the rate- setting committee, the minutes said a few officials favored or would have also agreed to support a half-point increase.
• Since the meeting, new data indicated stronger economic activity and slower progress on reducing inflation than forecast, which could keep the Fed raising rates longer than previously anticipated.

Inflation Ticks Up as Americans Spend, Earn More: 더 많이 벌고, 더 많이 쓰면서 인플레이션 다시 상승

(WSJ  2/25/23)

• Inflation firmed and Americans’ spending and income surged in January, which could prompt the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates higher than previously anticipated this year to cool price pressures..
• The Fed’s preferred inflation gauge—the personal-consumption expenditures price index— rose 5.4% in January from a year earlier, the Commerce Department said Friday. The core index, which excludes food and energy and is seen as a better predictor of future inflation, rose 4.7%. Both readings were up slightly from those for the 12 months through December. .
• The report followed others showing hiring surged in January, while the unemployment rate touched a 53-year low, service providers expanded their activities and initial jobless claims remained near historic lows.

Personal-consumption expenditure price-index change from a year earlier

JP Morgan Bans Usage of OpenAI Chatbot:  제피모건, OpenAI의 챗봇 사용 금지

• The bank didn’t curb usage of the popular artificial-intelligence chatbot because of any particular incident, the person said. It couldn’t be determined how many employees were using the chatbot or for what functions they were using it.
• ChatGPT isn’t always reliable because it sometimes responds to prompts with misinformation or wrong answers.
• In addition to JPMorgan, other organizations have also blocked access to ChatGPT. Last week, Verizon Communications Inc. barred the chatbot from its corporate systems, saying it could lose ownership of customer information or source code that its employees typed into ChatGPT.