Over the last year or so, our exposure to residential real estate investment has been very limited. It’s not that business hasn’t been very good for apartment owners; from the start of 2021 through 2022, rents on lease renewals routinely jumped 15 to 20%.

Higher interest rates have made commercial real estate prohibitively expensive. Higher interest rates have destabilized the regional banking system through the evaporation of no-cost deposits, which resulted in a raft of stricter banking regulations that further restrict commercial real estate lending.

The Labor Department on Wednesday reported that its index of consumer prices rose just 0.2% in June from a month earlier. Market watchers breathed a sigh of relief, but the Fed quickly warned that its battle with inflation is not yet done and at least three Fed Governors indicated we would see two more 25 basis point rate hikes this year.

Over the last year and a half of this hyper-inflationary environment, we’ve joined the legions of other investors in ritualistically awaiting the monthly release of fresh Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Producer Price Index (PPI) reports. Most of the time these reports are followed by the minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) and their decision on the direction of interest rates.

Old Currency is New Again History has a tendency to repeat itself and, at times, it can be a long, frustrating process. On May 3rd, the Federal Reserve raised rates for a 10th time bringing the target rate back to the highest level it has been since the Great...