Dialogue Chapters:
2:25 – You Had Me at Public Records Data
4:05 – No Hire, No Fire Jobs Market
6:15 – Where the Truth Lies
9:10 – Under the Inflation Hood
12:35 – The Fed Needs a Third Hand
14:55 – Limits of Lower Rates
19:50 – Abnormally Affordable
24:05 – Housing Supply Chicken & Egg
28:04 – Policies to Promote Supply
31:12 – Cue the Deer
In our latest Disposition Dialogue, we sit down with First American Chief Economist Mark Fleming to cut through the noise on jobs, inflation, rates, and inventory.
Fleming explores:
- The jobs picture: a “no hire, no fire” market and rising long-term unemployment: why re-employment is getting harder
- Rate-cut nuance: “You have to remember, there’s good rate cuts and there’s bad rate cuts.”
- Inflation under the hood: Goods inflation is resurging while shelter cools slowly and what that mix means
- Mortgage rates nearer the 6% to 6.5% range: why that may spur refis more than purchases
- Inventory & demographics: life-event driven turnover and why many Gen X/Boomer owners still stay put
- Policy & supply: local zoning, ADUs, and why demand-side subsidies risk bidding up prices
“I think we’ll be up, probably in the next month or two, 12% to 15% improvement in affordability compared to a year ago,” said Fleming.
Watch the episode to go under the hood on inflation, rates, affordability and supply.