Pending home sales in the U.S. unexpectedly climbed higher in February, the latest sign that the housing market may be stabilizing. The National Association of Realtors’ index of pending home sales, which is based on signed contracts to purchase existing homes, rose 0.8 percent in February. The index now is at its highest level since August of last year. Economists had forecast a three percent decline. Pending home sales have now climbed for three consecutive months. The pending home sales data is just the latest indicator that the recession in the housing market may have reached its nadir. The National Association of Realtors said recently that sales of existing homes surged 14.5 percent in February. These sales are measured when signed deals are closed. Housing starts rose 9.8 percent in February, and permits jumped 13.8 percent. Homebuilder sentiment was up for the third consecutive month in March. “After nearly a year, the housing sector’s contraction is coming to … [Read more...] about Pending Home Sales Unexpectedly Rise For Third Straight Month
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Outlook for Bay Area home prices is changing. Here’s the latest data
While home prices are still expected to decline in the Bay Area over the next year, the outlook is improving a bit, according to new data — even amid ongoing economic pressures in the Bay Area. Projections by Zillow show that home values in the San Francisco metro areas will likely decrease 2.7% in the next year, compared with the 3.6% decline the real estate listings website was forecasting in December. That comes even as tech layoffs continue and amid the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and the crisis at First Republic , known as one of the biggest local providers of mortgages. What’s driving the expectation of a smaller year-over-year decline? Notably, buyer demand started to rebound quite a bit after hitting near-historic lows late last year, said Patrick Carlisle, chief market analyst for the Bay Area real estate group Compass. “We will know much more once the spring selling season, typically the most active of the year, really gets underway,” he said. “But the … [Read more...] about Outlook for Bay Area home prices is changing. Here’s the latest data
Will Ambitious Plans for a ‘New’ New York Get Crushed in Albany?
Since the pandemic began to wane, New York-watchers have stoked fears about an urban doom loop : Millennials like me — liberated from the chains of our desks — would abandon Midtown Manhattan and perhaps the city or state altogether in search of lower costs of living. The commercial tax base would be obliterated, leaving no funds to support essential services like the subway. To prevent this dystopian future, Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams convened an expert panel that I served on, and they released the “ Making New York Work for Everyone ” plan (also known as the “‘New’ New York” plan) in December, a sweeping set of 40 proposals to keep the economy humming. The goals of the plan, broadly, are to reimagine the city’s business districts, to make it easier for New Yorkers to get to work, and to generate inclusive growth that positions the city to “lead the emerging industries of the 21st century.” But now, it is budget season in Albany. The proverbial “three men in a … [Read more...] about Will Ambitious Plans for a ‘New’ New York Get Crushed in Albany?
Coconino County, Arizona, attorney Bill Ring won’t seek reelection in 2024
close Video Fox News Flash top headlines for March 29 Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com. Coconino County Attorney Bill Ring says he won't seek reelection next year , but he isn't ruling out a run for another political office. Ring told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he will pursue other opportunities potentially tied to real estate development or legal work, or possibly run for Congress. Ring, a Democrat , is in his second four-year term as Coconino County attorney and has worked for the office for 22 years. He ran unopposed in 2020 for the top job. His term ends in December 2024. WEST VIRGINIA AG MORRISEY 'SERIOUSLY EVALUATING' 2024 SENATE RUN, POSING THREAT TO MANCHIN Bill Ring, the Coconino County attorney in Arizona, does not plan to run for reelection in 2024. The challenge for the office going forward, he said, will be expanding to fit the … [Read more...] about Coconino County, Arizona, attorney Bill Ring won’t seek reelection in 2024
King Charles right to kick Prince Harry, Meghan out of home—U.S. poll
King Charles III has the backing of 41 percent of Americans after he asked Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to leave their U.K. home. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were given use of Frogmore Cottage—located west of London—by Queen Elizabeth II after they got married in 2018. This was the place where their son, Prince Archie , now 3 years old, spent his first months. They have only occasionally returned to the Windsor home since quitting the palace for a new life in America. Charles reportedly asked the couple to leave in January 2023, within days of the release of Harry's memoir Spare . The Sussexes confirmed the move in a statement on March 1: "The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been requested to vacate their residence at Frogmore Cottage." Exclusive polling of 1,500 adults by Redfield & Wilton for Newsweek, conducted on March 20, shows 41 percent of Americans support the move while 23 percent opposed it, 19 percent said they did not know and 17 percent said … [Read more...] about King Charles right to kick Prince Harry, Meghan out of home—U.S. poll
Health Insurer Hoped to Disrupt the Industry, but Struggles in State Marketplaces
Oscar Health was going to be a new kind of insurance company. Started in 2012, just in time to offer plans to people buying insurance under the new federal health care law, the business promised to use technology to push less costly care and more consumer-friendly coverage. “We’re trying to build something that’s going to turn the industry on its head,” Joshua Kushner, one of the company’s founders, said in 2014, as Oscar began to enroll its first customers. These days, though, Oscar is more of a case study in how brutally tough it is to keep a business above water in the state marketplaces created under the Affordable Care Act. And its struggles highlight a critical question about the act: Can insurance companies run a viable business in the individual market? Oscar has attracted 135,000 customers, about half of them in New York State. And some of its efforts with technology have been successful. But for every dollar of premium Oscar collects in New York, the company is losing … [Read more...] about Health Insurer Hoped to Disrupt the Industry, but Struggles in State Marketplaces
MP says ministers want to blame migrant crisis on ‘Labour, judges or footie pundits’
Suella Braverman faces a battle with rebels over her refusal to create new safe routes for refugees to come to this country. A fiery debate in the Commons today saw Rishi Sunak's own MPs criticising his and the Home Secretary's bill to tackle the small boats crisis - as well as harsh words from Labour's frontbenches. MPs are seeking to amend the government’s controversial Illegal Immigration Bill to force ministers to create an alternative to making dangerous Channel crossings. Tory MP Tim Loughton, who is leading a rebellion, wants the Government to launch new and safe legal routes. It could mean up to 20,000 migrants could be offered a way to seek asylum in the UK Mr Loughton yesterday branded the bill “very controversial”, adding that it would be “much more palatable and much more workable” if it introduced new safe and legal routes. Tory MP Tim Loughton put forward an amendment for the Bill to include new and safe legal routes Setting out his amendment in the … [Read more...] about MP says ministers want to blame migrant crisis on ‘Labour, judges or footie pundits’
What It Takes to Make a Student
On the morning of Oct. 5, President Bush and his education secretary, Margaret Spellings, paid a visit, along with camera crews from CNN and Fox News, to Friendship-Woodridge Elementary and Middle Campus, a charter public school in Washington. The president dropped in on two classrooms, where he asked the students, almost all of whom were African-American and poor, if they were planning to go to college. Every hand went up. “See, that’s a good sign,” the president told the students when they assembled later in the gym. “Going to college is an important goal for the future of the United States of America.” He singled out one student, a black eighth grader named Asia Goode, who came to Woodridge four years earlier reading “well below grade level.” But things had changed for Asia, according to the president. “Her teachers stayed after school to tutor her, and she caught up,” he said. “Asia is now an honors student. She loves reading, and she sings in the school choir.” Bush’s Woodridge … [Read more...] about What It Takes to Make a Student
Obamacare Keeps Winning
The government benefits began their existence as objects of partisan rancor and harsh criticism. Eventually, though, they became so popular that politicians of both parties promised to protect them. It was true of Social Security and Medicare. And now the pattern seems to be repeating itself with Obamacare. Consider what has happened recently in North Carolina: Only a decade after the state’s Republican politicians described the law as dangerous and refused to sign up for its expansion of Medicaid, Republicans and Democrats came together to pass such an expansion . The Republican-controlled House in North Carolina passed the bill 87 to 24, while the Republican-controlled Senate passed it 44 to 2. “Wow, have things changed,” Jonathan Cohn wrote in a HuffPost piece explaining how the turnabout happened . Obamacare — the country’s largest expansion of health insurance since Medicare and Medicaid in 1965 — is still not as widely accepted as those programs. North Carolina … [Read more...] about Obamacare Keeps Winning
The Incredible Challenge of Counting Every Global Birth and Death
The roads surrounding the Jerusalén-San Luis Alto Picudito Indigenous reservation in Putumayo, Colombia, are treacherous on a good day. Made mostly of gravel and mud, they narrow to barely the width of a small truck in some places, and in others, especially after a storm, they yield almost completely to the many rivers with which they intersect. They also twist and turn and bump without stop. So, in the most difficult months of her pregnancy, when everything tasted like cardboard and it hurt even to sit or stand, Marleny Mesa avoided traveling altogether. This meant skipping checkups at the clinic in Villagarzón, which could take two hours or more to get to. But Marleny wasn’t overly worried. A nurse had assured her early in her pregnancy that her blood work was good and that everything looked fine. As a midwife herself, Marleny knew that making the trip would be riskier than missing a few doctor’s visits. But now, in the final days of her pregnancy, she could not shake the feeling … [Read more...] about The Incredible Challenge of Counting Every Global Birth and Death