MarketWatch: Weekly Real Estate Update for Riverdale, Bronx – 6/10/2024 – 6/17/2024

Did You Know?

* And you think US debt is bad? Emerging nations are contending with a staggering $29 trillion in public debt….still lower than the US’. 15 countries are spending more on interest payments than they do on education, according to a new report from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development; 46 spend more on debt payments than they do on health care. (NY TIMES)

* After graduating college, Netflix co-founder Marc Randolph got a “handwritten list of instructions” from his Dad, he wrote in a 2019 LinkedIn post.
1. Do at least 10% more than you are asked.
2. Never, ever, to anybody, present as fact opinions on things you don’t know. Takes great care and discipline.
3. Be courteous and considerate always — up and down.
4. Don’t knock, don’t complain — stick to constructive, serious criticism.
5. Don’t be afraid to make decisions when you have the facts on which to make them.
6. Quantify where possible.
7. Be open-minded, but skeptical.
8. Be prompt.  (CNBC)

* Bi-weekly mortgage payments can save you LOTS…. If your mortgage payment is $3,000, for example, you’d pay $1,500 today, and then the other $1,500 two weeks from now…..then continue that process every 2 weeks for the rest of the year—ideally with automatic payments you can set and forget. Because the calendar doesn’t split months evenly, you’ll end up making 26 half-payments over the course of the year, or 13 total monthly payments, instead of 12. In the lifetime of a $500,000 30 year mortgage, you’d save just under $150,000!

* These are the world’s top 10 most expensive cities for expats:
Hong Kong, China
Singapore
Zurich, Switzerland
Geneva, Switzerland
Basel, Switzerland
Bern, Switzerland
New York, US
London, UK
Nassau, Bahamas
Los Angeles, US

* Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Neel Kashkari on Sunday said it’s a “reasonable prediction” that the U.S. central bank will cut interest rates once this year, waiting until December to do it. Of the 19 officials who submitted interest-rate projections last Wednesday, the median forecast was for just one rate cut this year. That was down from their forecast in March for 3 cuts, and fewer than the 2-cut projection many analysts thought possible. (CNBC/WSJ)

Mortgage Rate Updates

The average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage fell by 4 basis points to 6.95% as of June 13th, down from the previous week’s 6.99%. The average for the 30-year mortgage rate was at 6.69% in the corresponding period of the previous year. “Mortgage rates continued to fall back this week as incoming data suggests the economy is cooling to a more sustainable level of growth.” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s Chief Economist. “Top-line inflation numbers were flat but shelter inflation, which measures rent and homeownership costs, increased showing that housing affordability continues to be an ongoing impediment for buyers on the house hunt.”.

Source: Freddie Mac