Did You Know? If you want a perfect real-time example of artificial inflation.....followed by artificial deflation, look no further than the Zillow Offers debacle: Zillow overpaid for thousands of homes, probably causing OTHERS to pay up in a highly competitive market further fueled by Zillow's purchases (along with other i-buyer and private equity entities). Now that Zillow Offers has been scrapped, unloading the thousands of homes will more than likely result in.....discounting......and deflation. The head of Zillow expects to sell the inventory at a loss of somewhere between 5 and 7%. That's 5-7% DEFLATION. Artificially over-exuberant markets fueled by speculators of all stripes often results in deflationary elements. I suspect this will happen in many other parts of our economy where some price hikes are far removed from rational market forces.
Did You Know? A layman's perspective on inflation? The other day I heard someone say they cancelled a trip simply because it was too expensive. The airline had placed pricing on flights that far exceeded any rising costs justification, and the consumer simply said 'no'..... price gouging usually leads to competition or rebellion/rejection and then pricing stabilizes or comes back to earth.
Did You Know? While Lumber prices are sharply down (55%) off their massive price surge earlier this year, they are still about 15% higher than in 2018.
Did You Know? Now this is Life changing😜! There is now a shortage of.....private jets! Further evidence that the shortages we are experiencing right now have more to do with excessive demand. More than 4.2m private jet flights have taken place this year, according to WingX, with a record number in each of the past six months. In the first week of November they were up 54% on the same period last year, and up 16% on 2019. (FT)
Did You Know? Do real estate agents earn 14% commissions? No! A recent massive auction of mega-developer Harry Macklowe's art collection revealed the entire collection sold for $676 million....including fees. Without fees that number was $589.7 million....so the fees amounted to $86.3 million.....that's over 14%! (FT)
Did You Know? A condominium in Hong Kong’s wealthy Peak neighborhood sold for the equivalent of $18,072 per square foot, a condo record for that metric in Asia. The 4,544-square-foot apartment at the Mount Nicholson complex sold for HK$640 million, or about $82.2 million. (Bloomberg).
Did You Know? Nearly a half-million California households—both individuals and families—moved from one metropolitan area to another throughout the state, and many left coastal regions, where home prices have jumped to new highs. Most Californians aren’t fleeing. Instead, residents are spreading out within California. Over the past 30 years, the population of the 'Inland Empire' has grown by 78% to 4.6 million, more than twice as fast as the state during that time. (WSJ)
