California Gov. Newsom To Order State Officials To Begin Dismantling Homeless Encampments

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US homelessness reaches highest point since at least 2007

There are more people without housing in the US amid a lack of homes for sale and apartments available to rent.

12/27/24 2:26PM

Homelessness in the US grew by 18% year on year as of January 2024, reaching its highest point since the federal government began counting in 2007.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development said in a report released Friday that the spike in people without housing could be traced to rising inflation, natural disasters, an influx of immigration, and the end of Covid-era government programs like the Child Tax Credit.

A lack of affordable housing is linked to the fact that there are simply fewer homes for sale and apartments available to rent. That’s partly because of rising mortgage rates, which makes it less appealing for current homeowners to sell and harder for new buyers to enter the market.

The 30-year fixed mortgage rate has been sitting above 6% since 2022, a level it hadn’t reached since 2008. Mortgage rates tend to track the 10-year US Treasury yield, which recently hit a seven-month high as traders ratchet down expectations for how much more easing the Federal Reserve will deliver following a string of hotter-than-expected CPI inflation reports and the potential that President-elect Trump’s fiscal and trade policies could add to price pressures.

With fewer people being in a position to buy homes, real-estate stocks have taken a hit. The Vanguard Real Estate ETF is down 3.5% over the past five years. Construction firms like DR Horton and Lennar are each down more than 6% this year.

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Premium seats help push airlines higher following third-quarter results

Shares of American Airlines are climbing toward the carrier’s best trading day since August 12, when ultra-budget rival Spirit issued its initial warning about its ability to survive. American’s shares are up more than 7% on Friday afternoon.

Investors’ optimism comes a day after American posted a better than expected full-year earnings forecast. In a call with investors, American said that it’s ramping up its premium cabin offerings.

“Our ability to grow capacity in premium markets will be further supported as we take delivery of new aircraft and reconfigure our existing fleet. These efforts will allow us to grow our premium seats at nearly two times the rate of main cabin seats,” said CEO Robert Isom. American’s CFO Devin May said that nose-to-tail retrofits of certain widebody jets will bump the number of premium seats available on those planes by 25%.

Extra legroom has been a boon for major carriers, particularly this quarter. Delta Air Lines said its premium product revenue grew 9% in Q3, compared to a 4% drop in economy seat revenue. Similarly, United Airlines said its premium revenue grew 6%, outpacing economy. Shares of both airlines were up more than 3% on Friday.

Carriers with less exposure to first- and business-class tickets like Southwest Airlines and JetBlue didn’t see the same amount of momentum on the day.