As the U.S. economy faces decades-high inflation, soaring interest rates and continued supply chain and labor shortages, midsize business leaders across the country are increasingly cautious in their economic outlooks, according to JPMorgan Chase’s 2022 Business Leaders Outlook Pulse survey released today. More than 1,500 midsize business leaders participated in the survey … [More]

Arizona’s storied film industry is making a comeback with exciting new projects, strategic efforts to expand workforce partnerships, and renewed attention from moviemakers. Arizona Film and Digital Media, a program of the Arizona Commerce Authority, works with production companies to promote and facilitate film opportunities in Arizona. Arizona Film and Digital Media … [More]

Ballooning mortgage costs, driven by skyrocketing prices and interest rates, have made mortgages less affordable than at any time since at least 2007. Demand for homes has pulled back in response, easing price growth, slowing sales and boosting inventory, according to the latest market report1 from Zillow®. Mortgage rates have shot up in early June, averaging … [More]

Nationwide, 57.8% of home offers written by Redfin agents faced competition on a seasonally adjusted basis in May, the lowest level since February 2021, according to a new report from Redfin, the technology-powered real estate brokerage. That’s down from a revised rate of 60.9% one month earlier and a pandemic peak of 68.8% one year earlier, and marks the fourth-consecutive … [More]

Following the successful launch of the education issues important to voters earlier this week, Center for the Future of Arizona (CFA) today released its economic and inflation findings as part of their ongoing reveal of the Arizona Voters' Agenda, which identifies what likely voters in the general election want to hear about from candidates as they campaign for their … [More]

The NFIB Optimism Index fell 0.1 points in May to 93.1, marking the fifth consecutive month below the 48-year average of 98. Owners expecting better business conditions over the next six months decreased four points to a net negative 54%, the lowest level recorded in the 48-year-old survey. Expectations for better business conditions have deteriorated every month since … [More]

Sales of luxury U.S. homes fell 17.8% year over year during the three months ending April 30, the largest drop since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic sent shockwaves through the housing market. By comparison, sales of non luxury homes fell 5.4%. That's according to an analysis of luxury real estate trends from Redfin, the technology-powered real estate brokerage. The … [More]

The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased 1.0 percent in May on a seasonally adjusted basis after rising 0.3 percent in April, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Over the last 12 months, the all items index increased 8.6 percent before seasonal adjustment. The increase was broad-based, with the indexes for shelter, gasoline, and … [More]

As remote work prompted many Americans to relocate during the pandemic, housing costs soared in second-home hotspots even more than the rest of the country, according to a new report from Redfin, the technology-powered real estate brokerage. Average rental prices rose 17.1% year over year nationwide to $1,893 in popular second-home markets in April. That’s compared with a 10% … [More]

CoreLogic, a leading global property information, analytics and data-enabled solutions provider, today released the CoreLogic Home Price Index (HPI™) and HPI Forecast™ for April 2022. Nationwide, home prices posted another record-high year-over-year increase in April, marking the 123rd straight month of gains. Rising mortgage rates drove buyer urgency and the resulting … [More]

According to NFIB’s monthly jobs report, the labor shortage continues to be a challenge for small businesses with 51% (seasonally adjusted) of owners reporting job openings they could not fill in the current period, up four points from April and matching the 48-year record high set in September. Twenty-three percent of owners reported labor quality was their top business … [More]