Public pension plans lost a median 7.9% in the year ended June 30, their worst annual performance since 2009.
Virtual Closings
Real-estate closings can now take place remotely in most states, with 43 states having laws permanently allowing remote online notarization up from 22 at the outset of the pandemic.
Apartment Rents
The red-hot rental market is starting to cool. Average apartment rents rose 9.4% in the second quarter of 2022 compared with the same quarter in 2021, down from the more than 11% annual increases seen the previous two quarters.
Volatility
The VIX hasn’t closed above 30, a key level that signifies increased fear, since June and settled Tuesday just below 24. The VVIX, an index measuring the volatility of the VIX itself, has fallen relatively steadily since January and recently hit a three-year low of 80.
Credit Card Debt
Total general-purpose and store credit-card debt fell to $748 billion in April 2021 from $913 billion in January 2020. It remains among the few mainstream forms of consumer debt where the aggregate balances, now at $855 billion in May, haven’t yet returned to prepandemic norms.
Evergrande Guarantee
Embattled property developer China Evergrande Group was told to honor a $1.1 billion guarantee, revealing yet another large financial obligation that wasn’t previously disclosed. Evergrande said one of its subsidiaries in China had provided counter guarantees to an unnamed entity by pledging its shares in Shengjing Bank Co., a regional lender.
Hotel Construction
U.S. hotel construction has declined for seven consecutive months, according to STR, but planning activity continues to rise nationally, albeit at a slower pace. In Construction: 149,198 rooms (-20.1%), Final Planning: 178,809 rooms (-11.3%), Planning: 281,190 rooms (+6.1%).
RE Loans
The value of securities backed by real-estate loans issued by banks was $20.6 billion in the second quarter, down from $29 billion during the quarter prior.
Hotel Workers
Hundreds of thousands of hotel workers have left the industry since the pandemic. There were about 1.7 million accommodation workers employed nationwide in June, a roughly 16% decline from June of 2019.
Negative Yields
The world’s pool of negative-yielding debt has shrunk to a roughly seven-year low, as an era of exceptionally loose monetary policy draws to a close in most major economies. The total stock of negative-yielding debt last week stood at $2.4 trillion, an 87% plunge from the $18.4 trillion peak reached in December 2020.