Money, Wealth & Power—A Daily Look at the Financial World
Blackstone Real Estate is leading a $1.5 billion push to take one of Hawaiʻi’s most established landlords private, a move that could reshape how homes, shops and industrial sites across the islands are owned and managed. By teaming up with local and mainland partners to acquire Alexander & Baldwin, the firm is extending a long…
Across the United States, the housing boom has given way to a more sobering reality: in many cities, prices are no longer just cooling, they are slipping. The steepest pullbacks are clustered in a handful of once red‑hot markets where buyers have stepped back, inventory has climbed and pandemic‑era bidding wars have vanished. Understanding where…
Mortgage shoppers expecting relief from an anticipated Federal Reserve rate cut are instead watching borrowing costs climb again, a jarring move that seems to defy common sense. The shift reflects how mortgage pricing is driven less by the Fed’s headline decision and more by the bond market’s reaction to what that decision signals about inflation,…
San Diego’s skyline is being quietly rewritten by a single decision: a real estate mogul’s choice to walk away from the city’s marquee office towers. The exit is not just a portfolio reshuffle, it is a stress test for a downtown that was already wrestling with remote work, rising vacancies, and a fragile sense of…
San Diego’s commercial core is being reordered in real time as one of America’s most powerful landlords walks away from a portfolio that once defined the city’s skyline. A single decision to unload a critical mass of office towers is not just reshaping who owns downtown real estate, it is forcing the region to rethink…
Homeowners sitting on 3% mortgages are watching today’s housing market with a mix of relief and dread. Relief, because their monthly payments look almost quaint next to current borrowing costs, and dread, because moving often means surrendering that ultra-cheap loan. Portable mortgages, long common in other countries and now under active discussion in Washington, promise…
New York has quietly approved one of the most aggressive property tax breaks in the country, giving eligible seniors the chance to cut their local tax bill by as much as 65%. For older homeowners who have watched assessments climb faster than their retirement income, the change could mean the difference between staying in their…
The specter of a housing slump is back, and this time one prominent analyst is warning that U.S. home values could fall even harder than they did during the 2008 financial crisis. The most eye‑catching prediction is a potential 50% slide in prices starting as soon as 2026, a scenario that would upend household balance…
Homeownership in the United States is slipping further out of reach for typical families, even as the economy continues to grow on paper. A new wave of data shows that more than three quarters of properties on the market now cost more than a median earner can reasonably afford, turning what was once a standard…
Household anxiety over day-to-day finances is rising again, even as inflation expectations appear to have steadied. The latest reading from the New York Fed’s closely watched consumer survey shows more people bracing for financial strain in the year ahead, a shift that could shape how families spend, save, and borrow heading into 2026. Those worries…