Denny St. Romain has joined CBRE as a vice chairman.
Jubeen Vaghefi has joined CBRE as a vice chairman.
Charles Crapse has joined CBRE as a senior vice president.
Alex Kupp has joined CBRE as a first vice president.
Scott Peek has joined CBRE joins as a first vice president.
Submit professional appointments, management-level promotions and significant awards for individuals, along with photos as .jpg attachments, to peopleonmove@orlandosentinel.com.
By Augusta Saraiva, Bloomberg News
U.S. new-home sales declined in June for the first time in four months, suggesting high borrowing costs and prices are restraining momentum in the market.
Purchases of new single-family homes fell 2.5% to an annualized 697,000 pace after a downward revision to the prior month, government data showed Wednesday. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for a 725,000 rate.
Even with the decline, sales have rebounded over the past year thanks to limited inventory of existing homes. That explains why homebuilder sentiment is at the highest level in over a year, and contractors are applying to break ground on more single-family projects.
Still, high borrowing costs and elevated prices continue to pose affordability challenges. The median sales price of a new home declined to $415,400 from a year earlier, but that’s well above pre-pandemic levels.
The Federal Reserve is anticipated to raise interest rates to the highest level in more than two decades later on Wednesday, which will likely keep mortgage rates elevated in the near term.
The Democratic-led Senate Commerce Committee advanced the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act, which directs the Transportation Department to require automakers to keep AM radio receivers in new vehicles as standard equipment.
By Holden Lewis | NerdWallet
A frustrating thing about today’s housing market is the paltry number of homes for sale. Would-be buyers outnumber sellers, even as high mortgage rates strain affordability.
So here’s an idea: What if the government paid people to sell their houses?
After all, the government paid people to buy houses after the 2008 financial crisis, when there weren’t enough buyers. Now, it could pay people to sell houses when there aren’t enough sellers.
We’re not talking about something as direct as the feds cutting checks. Payments would be handled through the tax code.
The notion has drawn support in the U.S. House, where a bill to double the capital gains exclusion on primary residences has 15 co-sponsors from both parties. That’s not the only way Congress could tweak the tax code to pay home sellers: The National Association of Realtors commissioned a study that came up with two more ideas, although neither has been drafted into legislation.
Not enough homes are for sale in large part because homeowners don’t want to give up their low mortgage rates. “The primary reason why inventory is low is because about 80% of homeowners have an interest rate that’s lower than 5%,” Sherry Chen, a Realtor with Kappel Realty Group in San Diego said in an email. “Even if a homeowner thinks their house is too small, too old, etc., they cannot afford to sell and purchase a bigger/better property at a rate that may be double than what their current rate is.”
Hertz said travel demand rose in the quarter as the company reported an increase in transactions and kept more of its cars rented out to travelers.