Present and Ready
Last Thursday and Friday CPI and PPI reports were encouraging in demonstrating that inflation is moderating, but the battle against inflation continues. Inflation is our perpetual enemy because it erodes consumer purchasing power.
Pass the Dramamine
In January, I will begin my 41st year as an investment advisor. That tenure should lend credence to my observation that interest rate volatility has never been more dizzying.
With the September 20th release of the Federal Reserve’s statement we learned that they would pause in their inflation fighting, interest rate hiking campaign.
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.