What I’m Reading
Can’t Fix Stupid: California’s Democratic State Senate Leader Toni Atkins is proposing to spend $10 billion to help families buy homes. The proposal would create a revolving fund that would provide interest-free loans for up to 30% of the purchase price of a home for low- and middle-income households. Wall Street Journal In a crowded arena for bad housing policies, this may take the cake. Apparently we are now at the “subsidizing demand is the best and only way to make housing more affordable” part of the affordability crisis.
Gravity: Inflation continues to drag real wages down despite nominal growth. Bonddad Blog
Bag Holders: Crypto zealots have long argued that digital assets would hold up well during turbulent times. Instead, the current downturn has proven them to be the ultimate risk assets – a feedback loop based on speculation of ever higher prices. Now late adopters are underwater on their speculative positions. Bloomberg The amount of wealth being incinerated here is substantial and will eventually find its way into the real economy.
Expect Delays: Supply chain and labor shortages are delaying commercial build-out and tenant improvement projects by an average of three months. Globe Street
Virtuous Cycle: A recent study from Vanderbilt University and the Georgia Institute of Technology found that over 12 percent of moves between April 2020 and December 2021 were caused by COVID-19, as remote workers have flocked to smaller cities with lower costs of living, lower taxes, and fewer pandemic health restrictions. The study analyzed 360,000 residential interstate moves from the last five years, finding that 70 percent of people citing remote work as the reason for their move earn more than $100,000 annually. Propmodo If this trend holds up, it will make the smaller cities relatively more attractive to high earners and businesses in the future as businesses that support that portion of the population will thrive. It will also continue to put affordability stress on local housing markets if supply doesn’t respond in kind.
Chart of the Day
They’ve only hiked 75 basis points and yet, here we are.
Source: The Daily Shot
WTF
Mother of the Year: A woman was arrested for making her children drink bleach after claiming that someone put her under a voodoo curse because Florida. News Channel 8
Let it All Hang Out: A 64 year old man on inmate release was arrested for exposing his genitals at a Starbucks because Florida. Coral Springs Talk
Basis Points – A candid look at the economy, real estate, and other things sometimes related.
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