From NPR:
Most homes for sale in 2023 were not affordable for a typical U.S. household
If you found the U.S. housing market impossible this year you were not alone. In fact, you were in the vast majority, according to a new analysis by the real estate group Redfin.
Just 15.5% of homes for sale were affordable for a typical U.S. household, the lowest share since Redfin started tracking this a decade ago. A home is deemed affordable if the estimated mortgage payment is no more than 30% of the average local monthly income.
Affordability plunged 40% from before the pandemic, and 21% from just last year. Redfin says spiking mortgage rates were a key reason why.
Normally, higher rates should push home prices down. But Redfin also finds the number of affordable home listings dropped sharply in 2023. That’s partly because many people don’t want to sell now and give up a much lower mortgage rate, and that tight market has helped keep prices high.
Normally, higher rates should push home prices down. But Redfin also finds the number of affordable home listings dropped sharply in 2023. That’s partly because many people don’t want to sell now and give up a much lower mortgage rate, and that tight market has helped keep prices high.
Redfin finds white households could afford far more listings than Hispanic and — especially — Black households, who’ve faced decades of housing discrimination. Only 7% of listings this year were affordable for a typical Black household.
There were also enormous geographic differences. The biggest drops in affordability were in smaller cities, including Kansas City, Mo., Greenville, S.C., and Worcester, Mass. The report says that’s “because housing costs have relatively more room to rise, and local incomes are often climbing at a fraction of the pace that mortgage payments are.”
Bah Humbug!
First!
Big Mac is about to get more expensive. Minimum wage in NJ rising to $15.13 an hour.
Summary of 2024 Minimum Wage Levels
Effective January 1, 2024, the following minimum wage increases will go into effect:
Most employers: increase from $14.13 to $15.13 per hour
Tipped employees: increase from $5.26 with a $8.87 tip credit to $5.26 per hour with a $9.87 per hour tip credit
Seasonal and small employers (fewer than 6 employees): increase from $12.93 to $13.73 per hour
Agricultural employees: increase from $12.01 to $12.81 per hour
Long-term facility staff: increase from $17.13 to $18.13 per hour
“Many of the factors that made 2023 the least affordable year for homebuying on record are easing,” wrote Redfin Senior Economist Elijah de la Campa.
Inflation and mortgage rates have come down.
Factors are easing? Inflation has come down? In my Covid-Induced sickness (my spouse as well), I went to 7-11 Christmas morning and bought Ginger Ale, Coke, ice cream and a loaf of bread for a grand total of $28.65. We don’t drink a lot of soda or eat a lot of ice cream but needed something to soothe the senses. And yeah, I know, it’s a ‘convenience’ store so prices are higher. But again, the blood-letting is slower so maybe the muppets have already embraced the decline in quality of life.
Looks like we are headed there. Must make early fear based press releases to muppets of America so they are all prepared for a war when the shooting starts.
Iran has enough uranium enriched to up to 60 per cent purity for three atom bombs by the International Atomic Energy Agency’s definition.
Eddie
I was at ShopRite and the price of a 36oz box of Chex Mix was almost 6.00.
Oh the horror. How am I going to feed the young ones.
Not to fear, ShopRite has their own knock off Bowl and Basket knock off cereal.
I’ll just hit it with my airbrush for the festive colors then slap a coat of clear lacquer on top to make it a bit more weather resistant.
Hope it doesn’t take too much time, I have a jar of coins to count. I’ll get started on it after I rehydrate my free Senior Citizen Dunkin’ donut from yesterday.
After she got her Christmas gift, my grandkid told me that I squeak when I walk. Was she referring to my shoes or the loose floorboard in my house. Or maybe that cheap azz Stryker hip Dr Ortho put into me. Now he is never going to get that five dollar co-pay I have owed him for the last five years.
Criminal A is pulling away from Dolt B. Time to watch the documentary Idiocracy again.
Donald Trump surges to four-point lead over Biden in Daily Mail national poll, despite battling court cases
JL Partners asked 1000 likely voters nationwide for their 2024 election pick
The results show Donald Trump extending his lead over Joe Biden
Biden is losing ground with young women in particular
Haha,
So she was part of the threesome, watched her husband rape someone, but was not a participant in the rape? I guess if you want to do a threesome you best hire a lawyer and videotape the whole thing, unless you want to be sued sometime in the future.
And this kid, maybe he is jealous he wasn’t invited to the threesome. Hehe
Tense moment student tells Moms For Liberty co-founder she should be FIRED from school board ‘because you’re terrible at your job, not because you had a threesome’ – after her GOP chair husband was accused of raping woman in their ‘ménage a trois’
I’m generally insulated from the inflation in a major way as I don’t eat out much anymore and make all my meals from scratch down to the bread/pasta etc… But I went out on Friday for lunch after school with some coworkers. Smashburger….1 double, fries, and a soda. $19, and the fries were shrinkflationed down to less than a McDonald’s small fry.
A NATO supplied missile hit a Russian warship moored in Crimea early on Tuesday, in what appeared to be one of the most significant attacks against Moscow’s prized Black Sea Fleet in months amid Kyiv’s intensified campaign to target the Russian-occupied peninsula.
Hehe.
Higher prices for Americans coming if Trump comes back. Hey he has plenty of money, so paying double for a computer won’t hurt him one bit.
And if you lose your job, your kid is hungry, don’t go stealing any baby formula. The penalty for that will now be death, your child will grow up without a daddy, and mommy won’t be able to sue the PoPo anymore. Hehe
Donald Trump has recently promised to give police officers blanket protections from lawsuits he claims could upend their livelihoods. “I’m also going to indemnify all police officers and law enforcement officials throughout the United States from being destroyed by the radical left for taking strong action on crime,” Trump said Tuesday at a campaign event in Waterloo, Iowa. “These are people, they want to destroy them because they want to put criminals away.”
“They’re the greatest people, the police,” Trump added. “They’re under threat of losing their pension, their house and their family and losing everything.”
This will bring jobs back to America, so people can afford a 19 dollar Smashburger. Hehe
Former President Donald J. Trump is planning an aggressive expansion of his first-term efforts to upend America’s trade policies if he returns to power in 2025 — including imposing a new tax on “most imported goods” that would risk alienating allies and igniting a global trade war.
Phoenix,
The story I heard was that the threesome(s?) was consensual.
Then later the guy wanted a solo session, and the girl refused him saying she was mostly in the threesome for Bridget. That apparently upset him.
I know some Republicans in the area, and many of the Party Republicans have not liked that couple, as they were too obviously aggressive political climbers, more interested in self-promotion than actual policy or governing.
Bridget Ziegler is kind of pretty, in an Amber Heard-bisexual-psycho-bitch way. Anyone leak the sex tape yet?
https://www.wmnf.org/police-recovered-sex-video-with-sarasota-school-board-member-bridget-ziegler/
No One,
Either way its nice to see those real Republican values. You know, that bible and God fearin’ kinda stuff.
Didn’t know traditional values included threesomes and rape. F’n hypocrites.
Bet they go to church every Sunday as well. Hehe.
Happy post-holidays, all. I feel like I just woke up out of drunken haze last 5 days. The amount of running, spending ,shopping was all time high as people were giving gifts unexpectedly, like my kids after school teachers. This led my wife scrambling (ie me scrambling) to get them gifts. Honestly the most annoying part of holidays – guilt shopping. Also, I have elderly mom who can’t drive and is a shop-aholic so I spent way more time at mall , TJ Maxx, Target etc over Xmas weekend than last 10 years combined. I hate shopping on holiday weekends. All I can say, completely insane. The closest mall borders poor, Spanish speaking Bridgeport and I strolled through Macy’s (first time in 5 years). The immigrant crowd had 30 person lines at jewelry counter. Same at TJ Maxx. Immigrant crowd had lines wrapped around back of store on the 24th. I left my mom to take kids home as 45m to check-out then came back. Store was absolutely picked over – only ripped apart garbage toys and goofy underwear left. I can’t even pretend to understad this economy. The prices are outrageous- plastic toys, food, ticket prices – you name it. I usually find decent deals but there was nothing. I don’t find paying $17 (marked for $25) for a card-board puzzle as a deal. I shop months in advance and found this years with least deals ever. Basically, pay our amount or get lost. Even ebay sellers..I had two that I paid and never sent the item! They had audacity to charge $40 shipping as well. Crazy times.
Oh, and new build that sat on market since September with no price reductions went under contract last week (of course). $1.45m for a home that would have sold for 950K 3 years ago. No basement with this home either. They built on existing foundation.
The worst part isn’t the hypocrisy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2rcquwo4R0
Bystander: It is crazy, surreal. Either people think all is well, or just don’t give a fcuk! Had a nice family Christmas, and some were saying and I agree that something does not feel right economically, and something is going to happen, and the bottom will fall out.
oNLy tRumPf cAn sAVe uS…
Bystander says:
I don’t find paying $17 (marked for $25) for a card-board puzzle as a deal.
Just wait till Trump puts a tariff on it.
Hehe.
Bystander says:
The immigrant crowd had 30 person lines at jewelry counter.
You gotta buy that or you ain’t gettin’ any.
Hehe.
I was at ShopRite and the price of a 36oz box of Chex Mix was almost 6.00.
Oh the horror. How am I going to feed the young ones.
Note to self: Look into the price of bulk chicken feed.
Biden is losing ground with young women in particular
The dems need to start screaming free ab0rtions for all. That’ll pull in the young women’s vote.
Eddie,
They don’t need to promise free abortion. The Dems can just rebroadcast Republican promises to make abortion illegal. It’s on the party platform.
PHOENIX – There is a real shooting war still going on between Russia and Ukraine, there will be Nuke action there before Iran decides to do something stupid enough to be annihilated.
Ukranian hackers have been after the Russian power grid and water supplies. I would not put it out of the real of possibility that a Russian Nuclear reactor could melt down, and a response would be to nuke Kyiv. If Moscow isn’t habitable then you can guarantee all bets are off.
Russia is fighting everyone who has supplied Ukraine with weapons. Ukraine is not a NATO country.
Americans cried when 2 buildings fell. I can’t imagine how they could handle a dozen nukes.
“You gotta buy that or you ain’t gettin’ any.”
Did not see any Salma Hayeks among the bunch, most shaped like fire hydrants.
If everyone thinks the bottom will fall out well then, I think you’re old enough to know the bottom will not fall out. Dinnertable talk can’t be the correct read of the markets.
The three cuts in ’24 move just seems like such a wild whiplash, that I still don’t know what to make of it other than Yellen pulling the strings.
Boomer,
Seems to me that this is a political move, ala Dumpy’s gift of rate cuts in 2019 after his terrible stock market fall. Something to stoke markets/ positivity and create insane spending during holiday season. A strong shopping season floats Q1 easy until returns come out. I also think it creates expectation of big raises and bonuses so people feel comfortable to spend. By Q2, there may be reality check that white collar hiring / raises have been shite for 1.5 years. The market will ask for more rates cuts if softens further. All about keeping this afloat until 2024 election over. You can’t convince me that this is sustainable for middle class..no way.
We’re now fighting a proxy war with Iran. The only ingredient missing is China Taiwan and things get really heat up.
By,
The world recently is seemingly divided into those with real estate, and those caught without. Those without are completely written off and shelved along with the lower 50% of households, who I believe are effed for a myriad of reasons.
So the middle class is sitting on all that home equity, which I understand they are tapping as needed. And, prices aren’t coming down, as all everyone is focused on is the positive rate of change. It’s not sustainable but it seems inevitable to endure.
And remember, 25% drop pretty much anywhere just gets you back to 2019 levels, which was not super cheap by historical metrics.
We the new Apple watch before the ban.
Why didn’t Apple just buy Masimo when it was $20 dollar a share? They stole the tech and I gather their lawyers told Tim Cook they could win for over a decade now? I mean it was Cook who engineered this whole debacle, he has been CEO since 2011 and they were in talks to buy Masimo in 2013 when it was only $20 a share.
CEO of Masimo even seems like a reasonable guy here in this article says he was willing to work it out etc, it’s his company he founded it in 1989.
https://www.macrumors.com/2023/12/19/masimo-ceo-on-apple-watch-ban/
Never say never, but it just seems like things are not gong back to the pre-2019 M2 supply levels. Shrugs. It stings, but I’m not sure what undoes the damage.
Boomer: Maybe a drop of more than 25 percent is called for, or maybe it all collapses. I just don’t see how it’s sustainable. Time will tell at some point.
Trump shits himself twice a day .
Trump shits himself twice a day .
Tell yourself that when you’re watching MSNBC on election night and they project his victory for a 2nd term.
What have I said about Apple; put anyone on this blog in the CEO seat and roundtable the senior execs once per quarter on project plans, projections. development and timelines. That’s it. Sit back and cash your paycheck. The current CEO is a warm seat, nothing more.
2:16 how’d that red wave work out for ya last time?
But hey if Americans are dumb enough to re-elect Trump they will get what they
deserve. Makes no difference to me. California is blue and doesn’t give two shits about what the rest of the Country does. We are our own Country.
Until there is widespread job losses, we are going to continue to move along. Lots of people are complaining about (cumulative) inflation (i.e. comparing 2019 to 2023), but observed behavior suggests that it is bellyaching. Don’t pay attention to what people say, observe what they do…… they continue to spend….. motivated by the juicing of SS payments, and also investment accounts….. people need to shut up…… and they are tapping home equity too.
3b says:
December 26, 2023 at 1:43 pm
Boomer: Maybe a drop of more than 25 percent is called for, or maybe it all collapses. I just don’t see how it’s sustainable. Time will tell at some point.
I respect the assailant’s honesty…….
Teen tourists stabbed by deranged stranger at Grand Central who shouted ‘I want all the white people dead’ on Christmas: police
Two teenage girls were randomly stabbed while enjoying a Christmas morning meal with their parents at a Grand Central Terminal restaurant — with their deranged attacker now facing attempted murder charges, authorities said.
The girls, a 14- and 16-year-old visiting from South America, were attacked at Tartinery in the Grand Central Dining Concourse around 11:25 a.m. Monday and suffered non-life-threatening stab wounds, WABC-TV reported.
The suspect, 36-year-old Steven Hutcherson, allegedly attacked the tourists after getting into a dispute with restaurant staffers who were trying to kick him out of the eatery, the outlet reported.
“I want all the white people dead,” Hutcherson allegedly yelled, law enforcement sources told The Post. “I want to sit next to the crackers.”
That’s when he allegedly lunged at the unsuspecting teens.
Less than a minute later, the cops arrested a suspect in the attack, who was identified as Hutcherson, MTA police said.
Hutcherson was booked on felony counts of attempted murder, assault, criminal possession of a weapon, and misdemeanor endangering the welfare of a child, according to the MTA.
FDNY EMS brought the girls to Bellevue Hospital to be treated for their injuries.
There was no immediate update on their conditions Tuesday.
It was not clear whether Hutcherson knew the girls before the stabbing but the circumstances suggest they were strangers.
Hutcherson had been arrested at least twice before in the past six months, including a Nov. 7 weapons possession bust for which he received an unconditional discharge, WABC reported.
Court records show that he was also busted in the Bronx on July 24 on resisting arrest and weapons possession charges.
Police said he was armed with a dagger and a switchblade, and later pleaded guilty and received a 15-day jail sentence.
The MTA said the investigation into the latest incident was ongoing.
California has started drinking its own urine because of overpopulation. It led the country in outbound migration. Not the promised land it once was and certainly not a place we should look to for political leadership.
We are our own
CountryCuntry.Fixed it for you.
LAX sounding like an “insurrectionist” or secessionist or some sort of domestic terrorist.
Positive place here today.
I rang the bell on the Nasdaq this morning. The city was hopping. After paying my $14.75 toll, I was able to find an early bird for $23 to park. Lightest traffic day ever getting into the city. Then again, it is the day after Christmas.
For those looking for the negatives or some kind of economic collapse. It’s just not happening. I agree that debt matters and at some point, we’ll pay for it (showed my kids the debt clock where each families share was approaching 500K). But I think we are still far from that day. How do I surmise this? Well, my parents and their parents could always be arguing the same thing. I honestly think, our defense spending is our secret ingredient for continued success.
You all know I’m a pretty big bear myself typically. But reading the economic tea leaves, the tailwinds are way stronger than the headwinds right now.
At some point, it will make sense for me to lock in some gains, but definitely not before the first rate cuts. Then, we’ll have to watch the delicate balance of the economy.
So this guy can “menace people with a gun” and break gun laws, and have a history of arrests, and the police give him a slap on the wrist. Interesting that there’s no clamor for “hate crime” for a guy who shouted “I want all the white people dead!”
I wonder if media will instead spin it as an anti-immigrant MAGA stabbing instead.
Who is Steven Hutcherson?
Hutcherson is known to both MTA police and the NYPD as an emotionally disturbed person with a history of arrests. Notably, he was arrested twice in the past six months for menacing individuals with a gun in the Bronx. His previous arrests, occurring on November 7 and July 24, resulted in a 15-day sentence for weapons possession and a conditional discharge, respectively. A temporary restraining order was also issued against him in one of these cases.
“I want all the white people dead!” he allegedly shouted.
2:59 geeeezus you are dumb.
Lib/ Chgo: I think you guys are way too “optimistic “, but may be right, who knows. But, the longer this madness (and that’s what I think it is) goes on, the worse the fallout will be when it does happen.
I love watching the whining pussy fart unravel:
“It’s hard to have a truly great Christmas when you have a Crooked and Incompetent President who wants to put his Political Opponent in jail, and who has been working hard (for a change!), illegally using all of the levers of Law Enforcement, to do so. We are in the fight of our lives to save our Country from MADNESS & DOOM. MAGA 2024!!!”
The fat fuck has lost his mind and his bowels:
“2024 WILL GO DOWN AS THE YEAR OF GREAT AND FULLY COORDINATED ILLEGAL ELECTION INTERFERENCE BY CROOKED JOE BIDEN, THE WORST AND MOST CORRUPT PRESIDENT IN THE HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES, THE DOJ, FBI, A.G.’s, & D.A.’s THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY, BUT DESPITE IT ALL, IN THE END, THERE WILL BE A BIG AND GLORIOUS VICTORY FOR THOSE BRAVE AND VALIANT PATRIOTS WHO WANT TO MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN. MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!!” Trump wrote in one post.
I love it!!!! Keep it coming Trump you are an endless source of amusement.
Just don’t stand next to me Donnie you smell like shit.
Both Trump and Biden have poopy pants.
Trump shit himself on the golf course!!!!
I’ll leave this here:
https://imgur.com/gallery/RPOoYZw
Happy Kwanzaa…
I think this development is the Millennial equivalent of Cobain’s death to Gen X.
https://nypost.com/2023/12/26/news/bill-granger-chef-and-entrepreneur-dead-at-54/
He invented avocado toast just like I invented the everything bagel.