Author: Brad Beckett

Storagecafe says interstate moving is at an all-time high, with a record-breaking 7.5 million Americans making the move across state lines in 2023 (roughly the same over the past 10 years).  They say today’s moving trends tend to be driven by necessity rather than lifestyle.  However, they point out that people are moving less frequently than they used to. Some key points: About 7.5 million Americans moved to a different state in 2023, a number that’s stayed relatively stable over the past 10 years. Seven out of the top 10 best states for net migration are in the South. Texas…

According to the latest ICE Mortgage Monitor, foreclosure starts hit an 11-month high, but remain below pre-pandemic levels.  In addition, the number of homes for sale in 2024 increased 22% leaving for-sale inventory at its best level since mid-2020.  The ICE Mortgage Monitor provides a view of the current mortgage market, including loan-level performance, home price trends data, secondary market metrics and public records. “While the share of homeowners past due on mortgage payments remains low by historical standards, we expect mortgage performance to become a growing topic of conversation in 2025, especially among FHA and VA mortgages.” Click here…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced that they will launch a U.S. Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Task Force to review how HUD is spending American taxpayer dollars. According to a release, the task force will be composed of HUD employees who will examine how to best maximize the agency’s budget and ensure all programs, processes and personnel are working together to advance the purpose of the department.  Indeed… “HUD will be detailed and deliberate about every dollar spent to serve rural, tribal and urban communities…Thanks to President Trump’s leadership, we are no longer in a…

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics is reporting that the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased 0.4% in January, 2025.  The all items index was up 3% for the 12 months ending in January.  The index for shelter rose 0.4% in January, accounting for nearly 30% of the monthly all items increase. Click here to read the full release at the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Last week we saw the most recent GDP numbers, but how do America’s richest and poorest states stack up to G7 countries when it comes to per capita GDP? Today’s graphic from the Visual Capitalist does just that by looking at the per capita GDP of these states and compares when with actual G7 countries. As always, stay safe and have a Happy Friday!!! “These massive gaps in output could be surprising for those not paying attention. The U.S. economy has surged since the pandemic, with its GDP per capita increasing by $20,000 between 2020 and 2024—a growth none of…

Rental information site Zumper recently released their latest monthly National Rent Report for January, 2025.  According to their data, median rent for 1-bedroom apartments was $1534 (down 0.3%) and $1,907 (up .01%) for two-bedrooms. Be sure to check out their list of the top 100 metro areas. Click here to read the full report at Zumper.

Once again the Tax Foundation has published their annual list of sales taxes in each state.  Sales taxes are a form of taxation that truly affects every person – it’s the classic consumption tax.  It is also the one politicians often reach for first to ratchet-up to fund their next project du jour. That being said, the folks over at the Tax Foundation recently released their annual list showing the combined sales tax rates (state & local where applicable) for each state.  The five states with the highest average combined state and local sales tax rates are Louisiana (10.12%), Tennessee…

According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 256k in January, 2025 with the unemployment rate coming in at 4%.  As always, the BLS says employment in government continued its upward growth trend in January (up 32K) with an average monthly gain of 38k in 2024.  However, with the new administration’s policy changes this trend will surely change. Click here to read the full report at the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The U.S. government is reporting that the national vacancy rates for Q4 2024 were 6.9% for rental housing and 1.1% for homeowner housing.  The national homeownership rate for Q4 2024 was 65.7%.  In addition, approximately 89.8% of the housing units in the United States in Q4 were occupied and 10.2% were vacant. Owner-occupied housing units made up 59% of total housing units, while renter-occupied units made up 30.8% of the inventory.  Vacant year-round units comprised 8% of total housing units, while 2.2% were vacant for seasonal use.  Interestingly, all of these number are nearly the same as the previous quarter.…

According to the ADP National Employment Report for January, 20245, private sector employment increased by 183k jobs and annual pay was up 4.7% year-over-year. The ADP National Employment Report is an independent and high-frequency view of the private-sector labor market based on the aggregated and anonymized payroll data of more than 25 million U.S. employees. “We had a strong start to 2025 but it masked a dichotomy in the labor market…Consumer facing industries drove hiring, while job growth was weaker in business services and production.”  Said ADP chief economist Nela Richardson. Click here to read the full report at ADP.…