On Our Radar

Politico, April 15, 2023, Politics Plus Logistics Could Block Widespread Office-To-Housing Conversions But the political fervor among progressive Democrats for compulsory affordable housing attached to tax incentives for conversions could dampen developers’ interest in the costly overhauls. And it’s not clear any of the policy initiatives on the table will yield conversions on a broad enough scale to turn […]

ABC News, April 13, 2023, Fed Staff Expects Banking Crisis To Cause A Recession This Year “Given their assessment of the potential economic effects of the recent banking-sector developments, the staff’s projection at the time of the March meeting included a mild recession starting later this year, with a recovery over the subsequent two years,”

CNBC, April 10, 2023, Warren, AOC Press Top Silicon Valley Bank Depositors About Any Cushy Treatment They Received In letters to depositors dated Sunday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., sought details on what they called the “cozy” relationship between SVB and 14 of its biggest depositors. Among those who were sent letters are Roblox CEO

CNN Business, April 11, 2023, Three Major Risks That Have The Banking Industry On Edge The initial panic has settled into a more tolerable state of tension. We can all take a deep breath, knowing our money is safe and that banks have the tools they need, courtesy of the federal government, to weather the

Yahoo Finance, April 11, 2023, Housing Is So Unaffordable That Banks Are Losing Money For Each Mortgage They Finance For The First Time Ever In 2022, independent mortgage banks and mortgage subsidiaries of chartered banks banks lost an average $301 for every mortgage they financed, the MBA said in a recent report. That represents a 113%

8 News, April 10, 2023, City Of Richmond Officially Declares Housing Crisis “The Mayor and Council believe that it is in the best interests of the residents of the city of Richmond that the Mayor and the Council declare a housing crisis in the city of Richmond in order to bring attention, funding, and increased

American Banker, April 6, 2023, FDIC To Take A Closer Look At Property Appraisal Bias “Since the release of the action plan one year ago, FDIC staff have been closely coordinating and collaborating with staff from other PAVE member agencies to fulfill the PAVE action plan’s commitments and recommendations,” Gruenberg said. “These efforts are helping

Reuters, April 4, 2023, Stocks, Yields Fall; Data Suggests U.S. Economy Cooling World stock indexes declined on Tuesday, with all three major U.S. stock indexes ending lower, while the U.S. dollar fell to a two-month low and Treasury yields eased after data suggested a cooling in the U.S. labor market.

Yahoo News, April 5, 2023, Historical Redlining Linked With Stroke Prevalence In NYC In the study, researchers determined weighted scores for historical redlining using the average proportion of original redlined territory overlapped with 2010 census tract boundaries in New York City. They then assessed how redlining compared with other social determinants of health when it

The Washington Post, April 3, 2023, Chicago Neighbors Say Obama Center Is Raising Rents, Forcing Them Out The Obama Foundation has told residents that the $500 million presidential center will help transform some of Chicago’s poorest neighborhoods and offer opportunities to those who live there. But Williams and others have watched its construction with mistrust. With the center’s

Axios, March 31, 2023, Young Single Women Lose Homeownership Gains Single women’s homeownership rate took a heavy hit in 2022 due, in part, to lower salaries, more volatile work experiences and more caregiving responsibilities, according to a recent Zillow analysis. After growing to 28.6% by 2021, the nationwide homeownership rate for single women dropped to 24.5% last

CNBC, April 3, 2023, Home Prices Suddenly Jump After Several Months Of Declines Behind the quick change are wide swings in mortgage rates. The average rate on the 30-year fixed began rising off of a record low at the start of 2022. By June it had gone from around 4% to just over 6%. Sales

The Washington Post, March 30, 2023, Americans Are Returning To Cities After Remote-Work Exodus, Data Shows Many workers who could telecommute abandoned crowded cities and counties for suburban or rural areas when covid struck, causing demographers and businesses to wonder whether the movement signified a permanent shift. But the overall patterns of population change are moving toward pre-pandemic rates,

Time, March 27, 2023, Women Drive Wealth. So Why Is Equity Still Inequitable? While the math doesn’t lie, we’re focused on the wrong stat. We can’t allow this to be the accepted reality because this number is a reflection of today’s make-up of venture investors. It’s time to change the equation. This isn’t just a

The Wall Street Journal, March 27, 2023, A Tale Of Two Housing Markets: Prices Fall In The West While The East Booms The United States is a country of two housing markets. In one, home prices are falling from a year ago. In the other, they’re still posting annual gains. That division runs right down