Rent Prices Continue Climbing
Rent has been skyrocketing higher over the last few years. The average cost of a rental property has jumped over 17% in the last year. Meanwhile, the price of a new home has skyrocketed over 32% in the last three years.
Inflation has certainly played a large part as well, accounting for nearly 6% of the price hike. With the cost of everything on the rise, including your home, these trends look primed to continue into 2023 as well.
Mortgage Expenses Nearly Doubling
As we previously noted, it’s not just rentals becoming more expensive. The home-buying process continues to become an even costlier endeavor. In fact, since January, mortgage expenses have nearly doubled by themselves. Much of this can be tied to inflation and the cost of keeping the lights on.
While homebuying becomes even pricier, this has kept the rental market flush with competition. Many would-be homebuyers have been forced to continue renting even longer than expected, as they have been priced out of a home purchase.
More Pain on The Way
Year-over-year rental price growth is expected to continue rising at a steady clip. Rent is predicted to jump as high as another 9% between June 2022 to May 2023. This has been a growing issue even before the pandemic. We all know rent has been going up, but rent was increasing by around 5% pre-pandemic. We continue to rise well beyond those levels today.
And don’t forget about the continued rise of interest rates… a nagging issue that has been affecting the economy ever since the global pandemic. Currently, it appears that interest rates may continue to rise over the next several months before the Fed has fully wrangled inflation in.
Looking Ahead
Fortunately for renters, many experts predict price growth to taper off into the second half of 2023, provided that home financing costs are able to decline. There’s also an expectation that the Fed is going to pivot away from continued hikes once inflation starts to come down. This would in turn provide additional relief within the housing market.
What it Means: As homebuying becomes costlier, so has the price of a rental. With many first-time buyers being priced out of the market, this is adding even more competition for rentals. Thus, driving costs even higher. Until interest rates begin to cool, and inflation finally slows down, the housing market is likely to remain lousy well into 2023.
Netflix’s Evolution
Netflix is getting ready to launch a new ad-based subscription model, something it said it would never do.
As Netflix continues to evolve its business model for new growth, many are wondering if Netflix should expand further into more theatrical movies. With a thin pipeline of blockbuster movie releases on the way, many theater owners are asking for more from Netflix.
Netflix plans to run Knives Out 2 (the sequel to a popular Netflix original) in a limited release in theaters, before making it available on their streaming platform. As many call for bigger and wider theatrical releases from Netflix, CEO Ted Sarandos continues to proclaim the future of entertainment is within streaming.
Though, many analysts on Wall Street believe a more flexible approach to movie releases could help jumpstart growth opportunities for Netflix. Incremental rate hikes for its subscription models won’t be enough to maintain investor interest in the long haul.
What it Means: Netflix has been one of the all-time biggest winners on Wall Street. But after years of growth, investors are looking to see what Netflix will do to increase profits. After proclaiming they would never introduce an ad-based subscription model, Netflix is breaking another promise with its first-ever movie release. We’ll be watching to see what the movie does during its exclusive run in theaters.
Bitcoin Makes Guinness World Record List
Bitcoin was recently added to the Guinness World Records as “the first decentralized cryptocurrency”. Bitcoin also received additional entries to the annual list as “the oldest cryptocurrency”, and “the first blockchain”.
The latest edition of world records includes numerous entries within crypto, especially in the NFT space. This is the first time cryptocurrencies and blockchains have been recognized by Guinness.
Currently, Bitcoin continues to tread water, breaking its previous support line of $20,000.