Money, Wealth & Power—A Daily Look at the Financial World
Las Vegas built its legend on the promise of easy fun and affordable indulgence, but a growing number of Americans now see the trip as more hassle than escape. From rising prices to shifting travel habits, the city is colliding with a tougher economic mood and a more demanding audience. The result is a sharp…
U.S. home prices in several high-cost regions have started to decline, trapping recent buyers who purchased near the market’s peak with shrinking equity and few options to move. At the same time, a new study finds nearly half of Americans feel stuck in their current homes as elevated mortgage rates freeze the broader housing market….
Los Angeles’s voter-approved transfer tax on high-value property sales, formally called the United to House L.A. Real Property Transfer Tax, has triggered steep declines in building permits, land transactions, and multifamily housing production across the city. A growing body of academic research from UCLA, UC Irvine, UC San Diego, and Harvard now links the levy…
Chicago’s downtown office market closed 2025 with a vacancy rate of 26.6%, a figure that reflects not just empty floors but a widening fiscal crisis for the city’s homeowners. As commercial property values crater across the Loop, Cook County has begun resetting assessments on hundreds of buildings, and the resulting tax burden is shifting squarely…
U.S. home sales fell sharply in early 2026 as elevated mortgage rates and steep prices pushed buyers to the sidelines. Existing-home sales dropped 8.4% in January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.91 million units, hitting the lowest level in more than two years. New-home sales also edged lower at the end of 2025,…
Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes dropped sharply in January, recording the largest monthly decline in nearly four years even as mortgage rates edged lower. The data, released by the National Association of Realtors, signals that cheaper borrowing costs alone have not been enough to thaw a housing market that has been sluggish since 2022….
Lakeland, Florida, a mid-sized city positioned along the Interstate 4 corridor between Tampa and Orlando, has claimed the top spot on a national ranking of America’s fastest-growing boomtowns. The city’s population surged 34.39% between 2014 and 2024, and its 2025 move in-to-out ratio of 1.33 means roughly four people arrive for every three who leave….
The National Association of Realtors reported that pending home sales in the United States fell again in January, dropping 0.8% to an index reading of 70.9. The decline caught economists off guard and added to growing concern that the spring buying season, typically the strongest stretch of the year for residential real estate, may disappoint….
Wealthy buyers, including high-profile celebrities, are pushing property values sharply higher in mountain resort communities across Montana and Wyoming, and the ripple effects are landing squarely on long-time residents’ tax bills. County-level data from Montana shows median home values climbing steeply in amenity-rich areas, while assessor offices in places like Teton County, Wyoming, confirm that…
Nelson Peltz’s Trian Fund Management raised its stake in Wendy’s to approximately 16.3%, declaring the stock undervalued and signaling it may pursue strategic transactions that could include a bid for control. The amended SEC filing landed the same day Wendy’s reported its weakest quarterly sales in years, and the combination sent shares surging roughly 19%….