A drop in new home sales, an increase in political trash talking, and a tribute to a multifamily sector leader. From the wild and wooly world of real estate, here are our Hits and Misses for the week of March 16-20.
Miss: Off to a Bad Start. This week, the US Census Bureau and Department of Housing and Urban Development released the data on new home sales from January – yes, they’re still running behind schedule thanks to the last government shutdown. According to the data, sales of newly built homes in January plummeted by 17.6% month-over-month to a seasonally adjusted, annualized pace of 587,000 units. On a year-over-year basis, sales were down 11.3%. This marked the slowest pace since 2022. Even worse, the December sales numbers were revised lower. There is no nice way to spin this – one year into the Trump economy and the housing market has shown no signs of getting stronger.
Miss: If You Can’t Say Something Nice… This week, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) issued an announcement regarding changes to newly enacted home insurance. While that should have been good news to trumpet, the FHFA’s press release took a puerile approach to the data by claiming the rule changes were designed to “fix expensive, stupid Biden-era requirements with simple, common-sense updates that respond to today’s skyrocketing insurance prices.” Seriously, is that how a government agency communicates, by referring to the predecessor administration with childish name-calling? For the record, Biden has been out of the White House for the last 14 months and “today’s skyrocketing insurance prices” are the problem of today’s administration. And speaking of the White House…
Miss: He Just Doesn’t Stop, Does He? President Trump used an Oval Office press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Thursday to demand the continuation of the Department of Justice’s probe into Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. Last week, a federal judge blocked the subpoenas issued to the central bank and questioned the legality of the investigation. But Trump was undeterred. “He’s under investigation because he’s building a building for hundreds of billions of dollars more than it’s supposed to cost,” Trump said about Powell, then adding he “should be lowering rates immediately … but he won’t do that because he’s a stubborn, incompetent person, and that’s a bad thing.” Trump followed up by declaring the cost overruns on the Fed’s headquarters proved “there is criminality, maybe it’s with the contractor … So, all I want to do is bring out to the public that this guy is incompetent, he’s a very incompetent guy, and he may be a dishonest guy.” To her credit, Takaichi listened stoically and offered no response to the president’s rant.
Miss: She Just Doesn’t Stop, Does She? One of Trump’s most annoying critics, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), matched him this week with misplaced outraged by demanding the Senate Banking Committee delay its confirmation hearing of Kevin Warsh as Powell’s replacement because his name was cited in the Jeffrey Epstein files. Warren sent an open letter to Warsh stating, “As multiple sources have reported, your name appears to be included in these files. Specifically, you and your wife ‘appear in a list shared with Epstein titled ‘St. Barth’s Christmas 2010,’ among other guests who were planning to attend a party on the island.’” Warren also noted Warsh’s wife name was part of a September 2010 email exchange between Epstein and a personal assistant relating to a list of people invited to a Wall Street event. Warren lacks an intellectual argument to convince others against Warsh’s Fed nomination, so she resorts to guilt-by-association smears. I would mail a letter to the senator complaining about her antics, but that leads to our next entry…
Miss: Wait a Minute, Mr. Postman! Here is some unwelcome news for real estate professionals who are still relying on the U.S. Postal Service (USPS). The cost of a first-class letter could rise to between 90 and 95 cents in July, according to testimony given by Postmaster General David Steiner during a congressional hearing this week. Steiner said the USPS could be out of cash within a year – it reported a $9 billion loss in 2025 – and needs the postal rate hike to stay operational. The last postal rate hike was a five-cent bump-up in 2025 to 78 cents. Steiner tried to spin the price increase by noting how first-class mail in the UK costs $2.50 and is nearly $3 in France. Seriously, is that supposed to make an American feel better? Lest we forget, first-class postage was only 50 cents in pre-pandemic 2019.
In Memoriam: W. Dean Weidner. After a week of sour news, let us pause to consider an individual who was always a source of inspiration and intelligence for our industry. Kirkland, Washington-based Weidner Apartment Homes announced the passing of its founder and chairman, W. Dean Weidner, at the age of 83. He started the company in 1977 and grew it into one of the largest owners of multifamily housing in North America, with 74,667 apartment homes across 323 communities in 14 states and four Canadian provinces. Weidner was also an extremely generous education-focused philanthropist who partnered with over half a dozen universities and trade schools in the United States and Canada to elevate professionalism across the real estate industry. Weidner’s brand of leadership was invigorating, and he will be greatly missed.
Phil Hall is editor of Weekly Real Estate News. He can be reached at [email protected].
