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mortgage

Average Long-Term US Mortgage Rates Rise To Highest Level In A Year 

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The average long-term US mortgage rate has risen for the fourth consecutive week in a row to the highest it’s been in a year. This marks another major setback for prospective homebuyers who were looking for a break in the market to ideally make their home owning dreams come true. 

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Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac told PBS this week that the benchmark 30-year fixed rate mortgage rose to 6.66% from 6.58% last week; one year ago the average rate was 6.72%. 

For borrowers, higher mortgage rates could add hundreds of dollars a month in costs and limit homebuyers purchasing ability. As the rates continue to rise, prospective shoppers will likely delay buying a home. This is reflected in how slow home sales have been in the US this year. 

Borrowing costs on a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage also rose this week. 15-year fixed-rate mortgages are often sought out by borrowers who are looking to refinance a home loan. The average rate increased to 6.04% from 5.96% last week, and a year ago it was at 5.85%, Freddie Mac stated. 

The Federal Reserve’s interest rate policy decisions and bond market investors’ expectations for the economy and inflation are two of several factors that impact mortgage rates. 

The Iran war has also been a driving factor in the rising mortgage rates throughout the US, as it’s caused oil prices to increase and fueled expectations of general inflation. 

The 10-year Treasury yield was 4.66% Thursday on the bond market compared to being just 3.97% in February, right before the war. 

The average rate on a 30-year mortgage is now at the highest level since July 31st, 2025 when it was 6.72%. In late February, the average rate dropped slightly below 6% for the first time since late 2022. 

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The Federal Reserve is struggling to combat high inflation. 

“Fed members are no longer in lockstep on inflation and that their next move is not going to be a rate cut,” said Anthony Smith, senior economist at Realtor.com.

“With the Fed signaling that its next move is more likely a hike than a cut, near-term rate relief looks unlikely,” Smith said.

 “Because oil remains the primary channel through which the Iran conflict feeds inflation, a de-escalation and a reopening of the Strait of Hormuz remains the clearest path back toward lower rates.”

Average long-term mortgage rates are lower than they were at this time last year, however, their increase in general has had a major impact on the US housing market. In fact, there’s been a national housing market slump since 2022, when mortgage rates began to climb from pandemic-era lows. 

“Mortgage applications, which include loans to buy a home or refinance an existing mortgage, fell 6.4% last week from the previous week,” according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

“While incoming economic data will continue to shape the outlook for interest rates, elevated borrowing costs remain a challenge this summer for many prospective homebuyers,” said MBA CEO Bob Broeksmit.

protest

Protests In US Have Massively Increased Since Trump’s First Term 

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After the first year of Donald Trump retaking office, the number of protests in the United States have increased greatly when compared to the same point in his first administration. The Crowd Counting Consortium, an open-source project collaboration with Harvard University’s Kennedy School and the University of Connecticut, reported that there were more than 10,700 protests in 2025. 

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This marks a 133% increase from the 4,588 recorded back in 2017 during the first year of Trump’s first term. 

According to the data from Crown Counting Consortium, a large majority of US counties have had at least one protest since he was placed back in office last year; this includes the 42% of counties that voted for Trump in the 2024 election. 

“It is a very historic time, in the sense that people are mobilizing where they live in ways that I don’t think I have seen before in my lifetime,” said Erica Chenoweth, a political scientist and co-director of the Crowd Counting Consortium.

Some of the most prominent protests have had to do with the main headlines to come out for the Trump Administration from his first year in office. There has been multiple coverage of protests for trans youth healthcare, the US’s support of Israel in Gaza, Elon Musk’s involvement in government, and anti-ICE movements as federal agents raid a multitude of US cities.

Chenoweth stated that more protests have not just occurred, but have been highly coordinated, organized, and scheduled, especially the No Kings and Hands Off protests. 

The project stated normally flash points of protests have been “localized to big cities or a march on Washington, and we’re not seeing that, we’re seeing very diffused protest mobilization all around the country.” 

What’s also significant is where these protests are occurring. Many notable movements have been occurring in red and rural pockets of the US that voted for Trump.

“It definitely cuts against the narrative that protest is confined to major cities, to the coasts, and to predominantly liberal areas where it doesn’t change anybody’s mind.”

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Looking back at Trump’s first term, there were a few major spikes in protests such as the 2018 student walkouts after the Parkland high school shooting, the summer 2018 protests regarding immigrant family separations, and the 2020 Black Lives Matter movements and protests following the killing of George Floyd. 

Most recently, protesting has been occurring throughout nearly the entirety of 2025 and into 2026 over ICE deployments in multiple states and major cities throughout the country. In Minneapolis, many are protesting following the killing of Renee Good during and ICE interaction on January 7th. 

“What’s really notable now is how much grassroots, improvised and then organized response there is to ICE operations,” said Chenoweth. 

“The defining feature of [the Minneapolis ICE] protests is absolutely focused on that issue and sense of outrage, and just finding unbearable and intolerable, the way the administration is approaching this.”

Cheneweth stated that the US is at an “inflection point” when it comes to the growth in nonviolent protesting, and these movements help to give citizens a real sense of agency in wake of feeling powerless and hopeless. 

“This is a very important thing for people to feel and internalize when the more dominant narrative is otherwise.”

Pacific Palisades

One Year After LA Wildfires, Home Sales Are Up And Prices Are Down 

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According to new data from Realtor.com, the share of home sales in the Pacific Palisades and Altadena have increased by 50% or more, with prices falling as well. 

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One year ago, two major wildfires spread and became the second and third most destructive blazes in California’s history. The Palisades and Eaton fires ravaged Los Angeles County’s Pacific Palisades and Altadena neighborhoods. 

The fires burned through more than 37,000 acres and destroyed more than 16,000 structures. More than 11,000 of those structures were homes. 

According to analysis from Redfin, individuals in LA who decided to rebuild within the past year have dealt with multiple permitting and construction delays, with many others opting to move out of the destroyed neighborhoods. 

This has led to a major increase in home sales, which has been partially driven by investor activity. 

Between January and September 2025, the share of homes that sold in the Pacific Palisades increased 50% year-over-year and 58.4% in Altadena, the Realtor.com data showed. 

Buyer activity is also on the rise with sale prices being around half of where they were one year ago. In the Pacific Palisades, the average sale price decreased from $3.7 million to $1.9 million. The average sale price in Altadena decreased from $1.35 million to $650,000.

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These trends are actually due to the fact that there’s been an overall increase in sales of now-vacant lots due to the fires, according to Hanna Jones, senior economic research analyst at Realtor.com. 

Investors are seeing major opportunities in these areas and made their intentions known a few months after the fires. They’ve been rebuilding the area and acquiring lots in Malibu and Altadena. 

Both Redfin and Realtor.com economists estimated that investors are buying about 30-40% of vacant lots throughout the areas. 

“We’re definitely seeing money flowing in to buy developable lots because lots are available now,” Douglas Elliman agent Victor Currie said.

“Investors will likely need to be prepared for the carrying costs while they go through the massively backed-up permitting process.”

build

Sales Of Newly Built Homes Surged To Three-Year High After Builders Boost Incentives 

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Newly built homes have had a new surge in sales, peaking at a three-year high in August as homebuilders have been boosting their buyer incentives and cutting prices, according to reports from Realtor.com. 

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The U.S. Census Bureau and Department of Housing and Urban Development reported that signed contracts for new single-family homes were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 800,000 last month. This marks a 21% increase from July and a 15% increase when compared to last year’s figures. 

These figures from August are the highest they’ve been since January 2022, and surpass what economists were expecting to come out of the summer this year. This could indicate a major comeback for homebuilders, who like a lot of figures in the real estate industry have been struggling from the lack of property demand in the US and consistently increasing interest rates. 

Data shows that sales in August rose 72% in the Northeast, 13% in the Midwest, 25% in the South, and 5.6% in the West when compared to July’s numbers. 

Prices actually also increased last month with the average sales price for new homes reaching $413,500. This is a 1.9% increase from July and 4.7% increase when compared to last year. 

According to Freddie Mac, the increase in August sales actually occurred before mortgage rates dropped under 6.4% in recent weeks with 30-year fixed rates averaging 6.59% last month. 

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To combat the constant trend of weak demand from buyers in the US, builders are purchasing down mortgage rates and offering incentives. Additionally, new home pricing is falling, which makes newly built homes even more desirable for buyers who are trying to save money. 

According to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index, 39% of builders reported that they were cutting prices this month, a 2% increase from the previous month, and the highest percentage in over five years. 

Realtor.com® Senior Economist Anthony Smith stated: “Builders remain more willing than individual sellers to adjust prices, but even with these concessions, the market is still gauging how much demand can be coaxed back.” 

“Another reason the New Home sector got a bump could be the trend toward the construction of smaller homes. With more people wanting to downsize, smaller homes are becoming more attractive,” said BrightMLS Chief Economist Lisa Sturtevant.

490,000 new houses were for sale at the end of August on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to Realtor data.

“The supply of new homes tightened notably as buyers stepped back into the market.  [The market for new homes is] still a well-supplied market, but less so than earlier in the summer,” said Smith.

cancer

Cancer Cases Projected To Rise Greatly In The Future 

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According to a new report from the American Cancer Society, cancer cases are expected to rise exponentially in the future. In fact, they’ve estimated that by 2050, the number of people with cancer could rise by 77%.

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measles

CDC Is Warning Healthcare Providers That Measles Cases Are On The Rise 

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The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is warning health officials across the nation that cases of measles are on the rise. The CDC sent out an email on Thursday after reports of nearly two dozen cases since December. They believe these outbreaks are mainly caused by children who were eligible for the vaccine but have not received it, according to reports from USA Today. 

The alert stated that healthcare providers should look for patients experiencing rash, fever, and pay attention to those who have recently traveled internationally. The CDC said that officials have tracked seven cases of measles that were brought into the nation from international travelers, and two outbreaks with more than five cases each. 

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Most of the cases were in children who have not been vaccinated for measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine even if they were eligible. 

“The U.S. is at a ‘canary in the coal mine’ moment with rising cases among children of the highly infectious, vaccine-preventable disease,” said Michael Osterholm, director of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy. 

Federal data has also shown that there’s been a general decrease in vaccinations in young children, and there are currently record-breaking levels of vaccine exemptions in kindergartners specifically. 

“We’re going to start seeing more and more of these outbreaks. We’re going to see more kids seriously ill, hospitalized and even die. And what’s so tragic about this, these are all preventable,” Osterholm said to USA TODAY.

According to the CDC, around a fifth of people who get measles will be hospitalized, and one in 1,000 people who get the virus develop brain swelling that could lead to brain damage. They also warned that one to three in a thousand will die. 

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“The U.S. is seeing a growing body of parents who don’t want to comply with vaccine recommendations, coupled with lagging access to health care to get vaccinated amid the pandemic,” Osterholm said. 

The US has seen outbreaks in Philadelphia and Washington state, with also documenting exposures in the Washington DC area. Separate cases have been reported in Atlanta and New Jersey as well.

“Between Dec. 1 and Jan. 23, there were 23 cases in the U.S. There were 56 cases in all of 2023 and 121 cases in 2022,” the CDC said. 

Researchers from the CDC and the World Health Organization recently released a report that highlighted the increases in global measles cases and deaths within the last year. In 2022, according to the CDC and WHO, there were 9 million cases with 136,000 deaths, mostly in children. 

Europe has also seen a major rise in measles cases. 

“The increased number of measles importations seen in recent weeks is reflective of a rise in global measles cases and a growing global threat from the disease,” the CDC said Thursday.

tiktok

TikTok Potential Ban In US Fueling Hate Crime Anxiety Among Asian Americans

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The rise in hate crimes against Asian Americans has been a widely discussed epidemic since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. With the recent news of Chinese spy balloons appearing in the US and the highly publicized coverage of the potential ban of TikTok due to security concerns is now leading to increased anxiety among Asian Americans who have had their fears amplified with good reason in recent months.

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insurance

The Cost Of Car Insurance Is Continuing To Rise 

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While inflation has begun to ease throughout the nation, car insurance prices are continuing to rise, as premiums are projected to go up throughout the year. 

According to Bankrate’s annual True Cost of Auto Insurance Report, released this Monday, the average cost of full coverage auto insurance is about $2,014 a year in America. 

Cat Deventer, Bankrate’s insurance analyst, told CNN that “car insurance rates are reactionary,” and currently feeling the lasting impact of high inflation rates from throughout the last two years; which also led to labor and auto part shortages. 

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These shortages, as a result, caused the cost of insurance claims on car repairs to increase, along with other related auto costs. 

“If inflation keeps cooling we could see insurers file for rate decreases in future years.” 

If you get into an accident, receive a speeding ticket, have a teenager as a driver under your policy, and credit score decreases are all factors that could lead to one having to pay an increased premium. 

Where you live can also have a major impact on how much you pay for auto insurance. According to Deventer: “Each geographic area has different risks and costs of living, so the cost for car insurance varies across the nation.”

Bankrate reported that Orlando, Florida saw the biggest rise in premium costs throughout 2023 so far, with an increase of 23% to average a $3,078 annual cost. 

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Phoenix, Arizona experienced the second highest rise in cost with a 17% increase to $2,164. Philadelphia and New York City both experienced the biggest decrease in rates. Philadelphia costs decreased around 22% to a $1,872 average, while NYC had a 14% decrease to a $2,649 average. 

“While you can’t control the effects of inflation or location on your premium, there are other things you can do to keep your costs to a minimum,” Deventer explained. 

She recommended looking for as many discounts as your insurer offers and taking advantage of them. For instance, taking a defensive driving course can decrease one’s premiums in many areas. 

“Or if the teenager on your policy goes away to boarding school or college and can’t drive your car, your insurer may offer a “student away” discount. And if they aren’t away, but attend school full-time and get good grades through age 24, that may save you a few bucks, too,” Deventer said.

“Every company uses a different algorithm to determine rates,” Deventor continued, so take the time to shop around for different providers in your area to receive the best possible coverage at the lowest price.

shark sign

Why Sharks Have Been Roaming Closer To The Shore This Summer 

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Summer beachgoers have had to be extra cautious this summer as several reports of shark bite injuries and general sightings of ocean predators off the Northeast coast of the US have become prominent. 

According to Gavin Naylor, director of the Florida Program for Shark Research at the University of Florida, “globally, shark attacks are at similar levels to previous years, but there are signs that the Northeast coast of the US might be seeing an uptick.”

“We are right on trend for this time of year. I think globally, we usually get between 70 and 80 unprovoked bites by sharks around the world. But that’s a global phenomenon. And it’s distributed in a patchy way.” 

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“One year we might have two or three bites in Hawaii in rapid succession. Next year, it could be New Caledonia; it could be in Western Australia. And this year, it’s off the coast of Long Island,” Naylor stated. 

Last year there were 73 cases of unprovoked shark bites, according to the International Shark Attack database, within the past five years the average amount of unprovoked attacks has remained around 72. 

Naylor emphasized that the sharks that swimmers have been encountering this year, especially off the coasts of Long Island, are looking for food, not targeting humans. 

“Most have been identified as sand tiger sharks, which, while fearsome looking, aren’t considered aggressive. They have likely been venturing into coastal waters to prey on abundant shoals of bait fish.”

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 “These bait fish are in schools of hundreds of thousands – or millions, and when they get quite close to shore, the sharks follow them,” Naylor said.

“The sharks are swimming around trying to chase their dinner. The people are swimming around splashing with beach balls in their circle. … The surf zone gets quite murky because of all the energy and the sharks are all jingled up because they’re excited to see all this food – once in a while they make a mistake,” he explained. 

Off of Cape Cod there have been several great white shark sightings this summer, prompting the closure of at least one major beach. During the summer and fall white sharks are known to hunt their preferred prey of seals, which tend to be towards the shore. 

Wildlife research performed a study last year which showed great whites spend almost half of their time in the summer/fall season in waters with depths of 15 feet or less. 

 “Until now we didn’t know just how much time they spent in shallow water close to shore,” said lead author Megan Winton, a research scientist at the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy. 

Naylor concluded by offering swimmers advice when it comes to protecting yourself from a potential attack: “Don’t swim or surf on your own, and don’t swim near big shoals of fish or if you spot seals nearby. Don’t wear jewelry in the water that a shark could confuse for the shimmer of fish scales. If you do spot a shark, back out of the water slowly. Don’t panic and splash around.”

World Military Spending Hits $2 Trillion For First Time In History 

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In 2021, global military spending hit an all-time high of $2 trillion, according to a report from a leading defense think-tank in Sweden. This also marks the seventh consecutive year that collective spending on the military has increased from the previous year. 

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