U.S. Home-Price Growth Rose to Record in June
Home-price growth climbed to a record in June, as robust demand continued to outpace the number of homes on the market.
The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller National Home Price Index, which measures average home prices in major metropolitan areas across the nation, rose 18.6% in the year that ended in June, up from a 16.8% annual rate the prior month. June marked the highest annual rate of price growth since the index began in 1987.
Home prices have skyrocketed this year, as the inventory of homes for sale remains well below typical levels and ultralow interest rates have spurred demand. Homes listed for sale this spring and summer routinely received multiple offers and sold above asking price.
The Case-Shiller index, which measures repeat-sales data, reports on a two-month delay. Since June, the housing-market frenzy has slowed slightly, though prices continue to rise at a rapid pace. The median existing-home sales price in July rose 17.8% from a year earlier to $359,900, the National Association of Realtors said earlier this month.
A dicey situation reminiscent of the dot-com bubble may be unfolding on Wall Street.
According to BTIG’s Julian Emanuel, the market’s record price action is mimicking late 1999, and it could spark a 10% to 20% correction within the next month.
“Be very much aware of the fact that if and when it reverses, the consequences could be severe,” the firm’s chief equity and derivatives strategist told CNBC’s “Trading Nation” on Monday.
On Monday, the S&P 500 saw its 53rd record close of the year and tech-heavy Nasdaq saw its 32nd. Meanwhile, the Dow is a fraction of one percent away from its record high.
Social Security Costs Expected to Exceed Total Income…
WASHINGTON—The severe economic downturn caused by the Covid-19 pandemic last year weighed on the financial health of Social Security, but not nearly as much as many forecasters originally feared, according to new projections of the program’s finances.
Trustees for the Social Security trust fund in an annual report released Tuesday said the program is expected to pay benefits that exceed its income in 2021, the same as it anticipated last year at the outset of the pandemic.
While the pandemic had a significant impact on the program, the trustees said, they expect Social Security’s reserves to be depleted by 2034, only one year sooner than they estimated in their April 2020 report. Once the reserves are exhausted, benefits would be reduced automatically unless Congress steps in to shore up the program, which lawmakers have done previously.