The Real Estate News Brief: Another Hot Inflation Report, Rent Growth Turnaround, Fed Listening Session

In this Real Estate News Brief for the week ending March 30th, 2024...yet another hot inflation report that we shouldn’t worry about, a turnaround in rent growth, and criticism for the Fed about the impact of high rates.   We begin with economic news from this past week. Another inflation report shows that we still have a few bumps in the road to deal with. The government released a report on the PCE for February which shows a sharp increase in prices. The Personal Consumption Expenditure Index was up .3%. That’s slightly below the .4% that Wall Street economists had predicted. The core rate, without prices for food and fuel, was also up .3%. The monthly increase led to a higher annual rate of inflation from 2.4% to 2.5%. The core rate went down slightly from 2.9% to 2.8%.   The report doesn’t change much about the central bank’s forecast. Fed Chief Jerome Powell said, a day after the PCE was released, that the data was inline with expectations but that officials want to see more evidence that inflation is decreasing before they cut rates...   ...You can read more about these stories by following links in the show notes at newsforinvestors.com. And please remember to subscribe to this podcast, and leave a review!   If you’d like to know more about how to buy real estate for investment purposes, sign up for a free membership at RealWealth.com, and check out our live events page. We’re holding a RealWealth Investor Summit on May 4th in San Francisco. Attendees will hear from six of our property teams and a cocktail party that will put you in touch with other investors. That’s at newsforinvestors.com.   Links:   1 - https://www.marketwatch.com/livecoverage/pce-report-march-2024-key-inflation-reading-powell-remarks-awaited/card/inflation-picks-up-in-february-pce-shows-prices-still-need-to-be-tamed--jo7XiPmCFLgu4KMT7xNX   2 - https://apnews.com/article/federal-reserve-powell-inflation-economy-rates-jobs-13b18fbabc63ae2fc396f7e0ab4f2955   3 - https://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2024/03/q4-gdp-growth-revised-up-to-34-annual.html   4 - https://www.marketwatch.com/story/jobless-claims-fall-slightly-to-210-000-and-show-robust-labor-market-56d1fd4c?mod=search_headline   5 - https://www.marketwatch.com/story/home-prices-reach-new-high-in-january-case-shiller-says-c1567963?mod=mw_latestnews   6 - https://www.marketwatch.com/story/pending-home-sales-inch-up-in-february-realtors-are-worried-about-u-s-home-prices-rising-faster-than-incomes-6edf99a6?mod=search_headline   7 - https://www.marketwatch.com/story/sales-of-new-homes-inch-down-in-february-fa2e9cb8?mod=search_headline   8 - https://www.freddiemac.com/pmms   9 - https://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/28/rent-prices-across-the-us-grew-in-march-with-one-exception.html   10 - https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/fed-chair-powell-says-pandemic-has-had-lasting-effects-economy-2024-03-22/