Weekly News (November 3, 2021)

This week’s Interest Rate (44th  Week)

(By Fairway Home Loan)

Prime Rate:3.0% / Ref IR: 0.00- 0.25% 

• 3% Down payment for 1st home buyer is available.
• 5% Down payment 2-4 units FHA program available
• 15% Down payment 2 families -conventional program available.
• Potential home buyer — Have a pre-approval first before the shop.  Now we have 48hour underwriting turn-around times for regular loans.
• 2022 Conventional loan limit:  Conforming SFR : $625,000/ Conforming high balance: $937,500    Confirming 2 Family: $702,000/ Conforming High Balance: $1,053,000

Eric Adams is elected to lead New York In The Time of Change

(NYT  11//2  )

• A former NYC police captain, Eric Leroy Adams whose attention-grabbing persona and keen focus on racial justice fueled a decade-long career in public life, was elected on Tuesday as the 110^th mayor of NYC and the 2^nd black mayor in the city’s history.
• Adams who will take office on 1/1/, faces a staggering set of challenges as the nation’s largest city grapples with the enduring consequences of the pandemic, including a precarious and unequal economic recovery and continuing concerns about crime and the quality of city life, all shaped by stark political divisions over how New York should move forward.
• His victory signals the start of a more center-left Democratic leadership that, he has promised, will reflect the needs of the working- and middle-class voters of color who delivered him the party’s nomination and were vital to his general election coalition.
• Adams was the favored candidate of labor union and wealthy doners. And he and Gov. Kathy Hocul who showed up at his victory party, have made clear that they intend to have more productive relationship than Mr. de Blasio had with Andrew Cuomo when he was governor.
• Boston voters chose city counselor Michelle Wu as mayor, making her the first woman and first person of color elected to lead the Massachusetts capital.

Rent in Big Cities Increased sharply by Double Digits

(Korea Daily  11/1 )

• According to Realtor.com’s report on 28th, rent in 50 big cities in Sep rose 13.6% compared to the last year and the median rent was $1,654.00 which is up $198.00 per month. Rent in Austin, TX is up 25.6% to $1,695 from the last year and recently 167 businesses moved in or expanded so as to create 21,000 jobs.  Seattle rose 17.9%, Denver rose 13.8%, San Jose rose 10.8%, San Francisco rose 9.5%, and LA rose 9.2%.
• com senior economists George Ratiu said home price increase, low inventory, and interest rates increase will make buyers priced out and make the move to those urban areas again.

Big City’s home price increase slowing down

(Korea Daily  10/28  )

• According to Case-Shiller Index on 26th, nationwide SFH Index rose 19.8% in August from the last year. 20 Big City Index rose 20.0% in July, 19.7% in August. 10 Big City Index rose 19.2% in July and 18.6% in August.
• Compared to last month, nationwide home price rose 1.7% in July and 1.2% in August. 20 Big City Index rose 1.5% in July and 0.9% in August. 10 Big City Index rose 1.3% in July and 0.8% in August.
• CNBC reported that home price rose up until July through September with below 3% interest rates, but while the rates become about 3.27%, home buying demands cool down bit and it triggered slowing down increase curve.

Zillow Exits from Home Flips – Quits Automated Home-Flip Business

(WSJ   11/3  )

• Real-estate firm Zillow Group Inc. is exiting from the home-flipping business, saying Tuesday that its algorithmic model to buy and sell homes rapidly doesn’t work as planned. The firm’s termination of its tech-enabled home -flipping business, known as “iBuying,” follows Zillow’s announcement about two weeks ago that it was halting all new home purchases for the rest of the year.
• CEO Rich Barton said Zillow had failed to predict the pace of home-price appreciation accurately, marking an end to a venture the company once said could generate $20B a year. Instead, the company said it now plans to cut 25% of workforce.
• The move represents a big hit to Zillow’s top line. Home flipping was the company’s largest source of revenue, but it has never turned a profit. Zillow has an inventory of about 9,800 homes across the U.S. that it is shopping to investors. Additionally, 8,200 homes are in contract it has agreed to buy. The company expects to lose somewhere between 5% and 7% on those homes, the company said.
• Also Zillow paid significantly more than those competitors for each home it purchased, buying homes priced $65,000 above the median on average, according to Mr. Del-Prete’s analysis.

U.S. Economic Growth Slowed To 2% in Quarter

(WSJ  10/29)

• Weakest pace of the recovery reflects drags related to supply-chain snarls, Covid-19 variant. The U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of 2% in the third quarter, sunk by a surge in virus cases and worsening supply bottlenecks, making the weakest pace since the recovery began in mid-2020.
• Economists, however, expect strong consumer demand and an easing pandemic to boost growth in the coming months despite lingering supply constraints.
• Supply-chain disruptions such as backups at U.S. ports and overseas manufacturing disruptions contributed to a rapid increase in inflation and pose a risk to the economic outlook. Still economists are forecasting a reacceleration in growth as consumers spend lavishly this holiday season and businesses increase investment. Unemployment claims are also at pandemic lows because employers are avoiding layoffs amid worker shortages.
• Spending on motor vehicles and parts declined at an annual rate of nearly 54% over the summer, Thursday’s Commerce Department report said. Prices for vehicles have risen at a rapid pace this year, indicating strong demand, but a shortage of autos drove down vehicle purchases in the 3rd Qt, economists noted.
• The labor force decreased in Sep, and some economists have said labor-force participation, or the share of people working or seeking a job, will never return to pre-pandemic levels. With fewer employees in the workforce, businesses are relying more on automation and increased worker productivity to meet demand.

Global Covid-19 Deaths Top 5 Million

(WSJ  11/2  )

• The reported global Covid-19 death toll surpassed 5 million Monday, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins Univ. The U.S. has the highest number of total confirmed deaths from Covid-19, with more than 746,000 recorded since the start of the pandemic, according to Johns Hopkins. Brazil, India and Mexico have the next highest reported death tolls.
• William Hanage, associate professor of epidemiology at Harvard University, said the 5 million mark shows that the treat the virus poses to public health hasn’t been exaggerated. The tendency to underestimate the virus has been a crucial factor in the road to this point, said Dr. Hanage.
• The highly transmissible Delta variant led to a fresh wave of infections around the world and added significantly to the global death toll. Now, Delta wave is past its peak, with New cases, hospitalization and deaths declining in most states. But the approaching holidays and winter months will test whether the U.S. can sustain that momentum, public health officials and epidemiologists say. 
• Nearly 58% of Americans are fully vaccinated against Covid-19, according to the latest data from CDC & P. The U.S. could further bolster its defenses as younger children begin to get vaccinated in the weeks ahead.  FDA has authorized Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine for about 28M children ages 5 through11.
• “It is ironic because the vaccines prevent the vast majority of Covid-19 deaths, which is the very thing that impedes our ability to move past the pandemic,” said Dr. Sethi, associate professor of population health sciences at the Univ of Wisconsin-Madison.
• “The combination of cold weather driving people to spend more time indoors and not having enough vulnerable people vaccinated is why we will continue to see more deaths around the U.S. and the world” continued he.

Inflations Complicates Fed’s Next Move

(WSJ 10/26)

• Fed officials are set to wind down their $120B a month bond purchase program in November, but questions over how soon inflation pressures will fade are creating more uneasiness inside the central bank.
• Fed Chairman Jerome Powell and senior officials have played down worries this year that a surge in prices during the uneven pandemic recovery would lead to permanently higher inflation.
• For now, the Fed’s Nov. 2- 3 policy meeting remains focused on flipping the switch to start reducing, or tapering, asset purchases later in the month.
• In congressional testimony last month, Mr. Powell said it was frustrating that supply chain bottlenecks, weren’t improving. Then at the virtual conference last Friday, he said, “supply-side constraints have actually gotten worse in some cases… and now we’re getting upward pressure on energy.”
• A Labor Department report on inflation in Sep pointed to broadening in price pressures. Meanwhile prices of some goods that had appeared to moderate this summer, including used cars, are rising once again.

Others/Tech News:
Apple wants iPhone to detect car accidents, Auto-dial 911 

– Plans to roll out a product feature called “crash detection” next year.
– Uses data from sensors to detect a sudden spike on gravity, or “g” forces in impact.