Market Update | OCT 18

DID YOU KNOW?

Top Headlines: Delivered by Leonard Steinberg

October 18, 2023

01  U.S. insurers paid out $99 billion in claims related to natural disasters in 2022. As a result, premiums rose by an average of 21% from May 2022 to May 2023 - ranging from a low of 10% to 35% - dwarfing the 12% increase during 2021.. 

(NY TIMES)

02  Consumer prices rose more than anticipated - 0.4% - fueling chatter of more FED rate hikes... Delta posted a 60% jump in profits.....ie: did they push prices further just because there was an audience willing to pay those prices? Yup! Inflation varies by area of the US, with the Northeast seeing the lowest inflation.

(CNBC/BLOOMBERG)

03  33.12% of all sales nationally of single-family homes over $1 million in the second quarter of 2023 were cash deals.

(ATTOM)

04  It is estimated that crypto exchange company Garantex - based in Russia with an outpost in Dubai - has laundered anywhere between $7-30 billion via crypto for oligarchs, thugs and terrorist groups.....with unusually high activity and volume this Summer. Behind all crimes and evil lie enablers? I would expect new/added regulations around crypto....

05  In the suburbs of Portland, Oregon, which lost nearly 3% of its population between 2020 and 2022, rents are up 23% since 2020, compared with about 2% in the center city. Suburban rents have risen much more than most urban centers in the past few years.

06  The number of homes for sale that measure 750-1,750 sf - the range downsizers tend to prefer - dropped 41% since 2019, and prices for these homes are 50% higher than they were before Covid.  There were 144,364 in February 2022.....and now inventory is up to 266,802...an almost 85% increase, but still down from a high of over 550,000 in 2016.

(WSJ)