Money, Wealth & Power—A Daily Look at the Financial World
The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate in Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey for the week ending February 7, 2026, is hovering near 6.8 percent, keeping home loans firmly in expensive territory. At the same time, the Bureau of Labor Statistics January jobs report showed nonfarm payrolls rising by 353,000 and the unemployment rate holding…
When a California billionaire quietly closed on a sprawling Las Vegas estate through a Nevada LLC, Clark County deed records captured more than a trophy purchase. The transaction signaled how some of the state’s richest residents are positioning themselves ahead of a proposed one-time wealth tax aimed squarely at fortunes over 1 billion dollars. Their…
Renters are often described as vulnerable, squeezed by rising housing costs and the whims of landlords. Yet the same dynamics that expose renters to risk also reveal how central they are to the housing economy’s basic math. When renters recognize that dependence and organize around it, they can turn what looks like weakness into bargaining…
Housing in California has shifted from a monthly bill to a permanent emergency. In the state’s most expensive communities, typical households now devote almost half of their paychecks to keeping a roof overhead, crowding out savings, child care and even basic health needs. The pattern is especially punishing in the 10 worst hotspots, where the…
High-end property in the United States is tracked, recorded, and verified through county offices that treat a vice president’s beach house the same way they treat a schoolteacher’s condo. Behind every luxury closing is a public paper trail that shows who owns what, how that changed over time, and what risks might be hiding in…
Leaders in the real‑estate industry are warning that U.S. home sales are entering a new kind of slowdown as 2026 begins. Realtor groups say buyers and sellers are backing away at the same time, creating a standoff in which fewer homes change hands even while prices stay high. Those concerns are surfacing just as new…
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani swept into office promising to tackle the housing crisis head on, with a signature vow to expand rental assistance for struggling tenants. Now, as budget pressure mounts, he is quietly edging away from that pledge, signaling a far more cautious approach to the CityFHEPS voucher program than his campaign…
New federal survey data and private market analysis point to a housing market under acute affordability strain, with rising ownership costs colliding with rare, broad-based price cuts on new homes. The U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey reports that median monthly owner costs for mortgaged homes reached $2,035 in 2024, while a Realtor.com study, released…
Mortgage borrowers have been handed an unexpected boost as Nationwide cuts the cost of new fixed deals, dragging headline rates back towards the mid‑3% range and reviving talk of a fresh mortgage price war. The move sharpens competition just as expectations grow that borrowing costs will fall further over the next couple of years, raising…
For decades, many Americans treated renting as a temporary step before buying a home. Rising prices, higher mortgage rates and stubborn inflation have changed that pattern. Renters now have to look more closely at whether owning still offers a clear financial edge. The cost gap between buying and renting is no longer obvious, and the…