When Frank Lloyd Wright designs your home, you never want to leave. In West Lafayette, Indiana, John Christian is preparing to give 83 kindergartners a tour of his house, in which triangles appear in one unusual detail after another. In Canton, Ohio, Jeanne Spielman Rubin is sewing new slipcovers for the banquette in her hexagonal living room. Christian and Rubin, both 89, have never met, but there’s a good chance they would hit it off. Both seem far younger than their years, both pride themselves on their resourcefulness, and both (not coincidentally) live in homes designed for them by Frank Lloyd Wright. According to Lisa Dewey-Mattia of the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy in Chicago, there may be as many as two dozen original Wright clients still living in the houses they commissioned, most of them in the 1950s. Many of the owners are idealists whose houses give them a sense of purpose after most of their contemporaries have moved to retirement homes—or beyond. The 1950s is remembered as a decade of standardization—the era in which industrial techniques and social conformity gave rise to millions of identical houses. Everyone, the official history of the period goes, wanted a square house on a square lot. Yet in the 1950s Wright completed more than 90 houses, most of them for young couples who were determined to express their individuality. They weren’t wealthy, some had to scrape together every last nickel to raise their cantilevered roofs. Christian says it took Wright five years to deliver the plans for his house, and that was fine, because he and his wife didn’t have the money to build it. When they did break ground, they had to forgo some aspects of Wright’s design—including a copper fascia (which the couple, keeping their promise to Wright, finally erected in the 1990s). One thing the clients had in common was that they wanted houses that fit how they lived—not how society thought they should live. Longevity seems to go with the territory, perhaps because carrying on Wright’s dreams—and their own—gives the owners a raison d’être. In other raison d’êtres, let’s explore real estate investor news.
Homebuilders Update. Realtor.com reports that new residential construction dipped in April 2025, as U.S. tariffs began to drag on the housing sector. Building permits fell 4.7% month over month and 3.2% year over year, while completions dropped 5.9% monthly and 12.3% annually. Starts increased 1.6% from March but remained below last year’s level. Single-family construction was hit hardest, with permits down 6.2% and starts down 12%, while multifamily projects outperformed, with starts rising 28.8% year over year. Builder confidence dropped sharply in May, with the NAHB/Wells Fargo “Housing Market Index” falling six points to 34—the lowest since late 2022. Persistent high interest rates, tariff uncertainty, and rising material costs have dampened sentiment, though most survey responses came before the May 12 U.S.-China agreement to pause tariffs for 90 days. In May, 34% of builders cut home prices, the highest since December 2023, while 61% offered sales incentives. This latest homebuilder survey is just four points above its COVID-19 recession low, signaling deep pessimism in the industry. Builders face pressure from rising tariffs and high mortgage rates, which drive up material costs and stall demand. Trump has advocated for lower rates to offset these headwinds, arguing that cheaper mortgages could revive buyer interest, much like during the pandemic when lower rates helped builders sell despite record-high lumber prices. The survey’s collapse is now seen as a potential recession signal and a warning for future home production. Meanwhile, the cost of credit for residential land acquisition, development, and construction (“AD&C”) eased slightly in Q1 2025. Average interest rates dropped on three of the four loan categories tracked: land acquisition loans fell from 8.48% to 8.23%, land development loans from 8.28% to 7.86%, and speculative single-family construction loans from 8.34% to 8.08%. Only pre-sold single-family construction loans saw a slight rate increase, rising from 7.75% to 7.96%.
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Zumper National Rent Report. Zumper’s National Rent Index revealed a slight monthly increase that is in line with typical seasonal trends: the median rent for one-bedroom units rose 0.2% to $1,520 while two-bedrooms climbed 0.3% to $1,907. The return of renters to major metropolitan areas (seemingly a reversal of the early pandemic exodus), is reflected in the double-digit annual rent growth seen in the nation’s two most expensive markets. One-bedroom rent in New York City is up 10% year-over-year, while San Francisco has surged 11.9%, marking the second-highest growth rate in the country. San Francisco rent continues to inch closer to pre-pandemic levels, with the $3,300 mark not seen since May 2020. Elsewhere in the top 10, Washington, D.C. rose one spot to become the eighth most expensive city, now tied with Los Angeles at $2,300 for a one-bedroom. Jersey City, by contrast, continues to see notable monthly declines, with both one and two-bedroom rents dropping by about 6%. “As May marks the start of peak moving season, the uptick in our national rent prices aligns with typical seasonal trends,” said Zumper CEO Anthemos Georgiades. “With the surge in rental supply beginning to taper off and demand expected to remain strong, we anticipate continued upward pressure on rents in the coming months.”
GOP Tax Bill Update. AP News report that President Trump may again visit Capitol Hill, this time to rally Senate Republicans behind his 1,116-page tax and immigration bill ahead of a Senate key vote this week. Narrowly advanced by the House lasts week, the bill still faces internal GOP divisions, particularly over Medicaid work requirements and green energy tax cuts. Trump’s push aims to unite the party around what he calls the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” while House and Senate leaders continue negotiations to move up timelines for cost offsets and reconciliation. AP News reports that the GOP’s new draft tax reform bill is a win for the real estate industry, particularly on housing affordability and small business support. The bill includes provisions to permanently lower individual tax rates, expand the SALT deduction, protect the mortgage interest deduction, and enhance small business tax breaks. It also increases the child tax credit and renews opportunity zones with new incentives. Major housing organizations, including the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) and the National Housing Conference (NHC), voiced support for the housing-related provisions in the GOP’s proposed tax bill. As the bill now moves through the Senate, NHC President David Dworkin praised including measures to support housing, signaling optimism that the legislation could positively impact affordability and supply amid broader tax reform debates. Indeed, according to a release from national Association of Realtors, the industry group praised the new tax bill as a significant win for the real estate sector. The bill preserves key provisions like the mortgage interest deduction, small-business tax benefits, and 1031 exchanges, while enhancing the SALT deduction and renewing the opportunity zones program. It also proposes making lower-income tax brackets permanent and expanding the child tax credit. NAR emphasized the bill’s potential to support housing affordability, but urged continued caution as the legislation evolves.
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U.S. Foreclosure Activity Increases in 2025. ATTOM, curator of property data, released its April 2025 “U.S. Foreclosure Market Report,” which shows there were a total of 36,033 U.S. properties with foreclosure filings (i.e. default notices, scheduled auctions or bank repossessions) up 13.9 percent from a year ago. “April’s foreclosure activity continued its gradual climb, with both starts and completions up annually,” said Rob Barber, CEO at ATTOM. “While volumes remain below historical norms, the year-over-year increases may suggest that some homeowners are beginning to feel the effects of persistent economic pressures.” Lenders repossessed 3,580 U.S. properties through completed foreclosures (REOs) in April 2025, up 23.3 percent from a year ago – marking the second month of REO numbers increasing annually. Among the 225 metropolitan statistical areas with a population of at least 200,000, that saw the greatest number of REOs included: Chicago, IL (220 REOs); Atlanta, GA (213 REOs); New York, NY (143 REOs); Houston, TX (114 REOs); and Philadelphia, PA (86 REOs). Nationwide one in every 3,950 housing units had a foreclosure filing in April 2025. States with the worst foreclosure rates were South Carolina (one in every 2,311 housing units with a foreclosure filing); Illinois (one in every 2,405 housing units); Florida (one in every 2,526 housing units); Delaware (one in every 2,617 housing units); and Nevada (one in every 2,944 housing units). Those major metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) with a population greater than 200,000, with the worst foreclosure rates in April 2025 were Warner Robins, GA (one in every 1,512 housing units with a foreclosure filing); Killeen-Temple, TX (one in every 1,590 housing units); Chico, CA (one in every 1,720 housing units); Ocala, FL (one in every 1,731 housing units); and Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL (one in every 1,753 housing units).
Home-Price Trends in Opportunity Zones Following National Patterns. ATTOM released its first-quarter 2025 report analyzing qualified low-income “Opportunity Zones” targeted by Congress for economic redevelopment in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. In this report, ATTOM looked at 3,558 zones around the United States with sufficient data to analyze, meaning they had at least five home sales in the first quarter of 2025. The report found that median single-family home and condo prices increased from the fourth quarter of 2024 to the first quarter of 2025 in 48 percent of Opportunity Zones around the country with enough data to measure. That happened as the national median price remained the same. Medians were up annually in 59 percent of Opportunity Zones during a time when the typical nationwide price went up 8 percent. As the U.S. housing market boom continued into in its 14th year, median prices grew more than 10 percent annually in close to half the Opportunity Zones analyzed. Those trends, in and around low-income neighborhoods where the federal government offers tax breaks to spur economic revival, extended a long-term pattern of home values inside Opportunity Zones closely tracking broader nationwide price shifts for at least the last four years. That scenario has held regardless of whether the housing market has seen small, moderate or robust gains. Despite prices continuing to rise in a majority of Opportunity Zone markets when measured year over year, the first-quarter trends again were mixed, with typical values again rising far more often in higher-priced zones than in the very lowest-priced neighborhoods. That continues to show more significant weakness at the very bottom of the U.S. housing market, suggesting that those areas are reaping the fewest benefits from rising home values and could be more vulnerable if the broader market surge stalls.
Doomsday Clock Has Never Been Closer To Metaphorical Midnight. Humanity is closer than ever to catastrophe, according to the atomic scientists behind the Doomsday Clock. The ominous metaphor ticked one second closer to midnight this week. The clock now stands just 89 seconds away — its first move in two years and the closest the clock come to midnight in its nearly eight-decade history. "The 2025 Clock time signals that the world is on a course of unprecedented risk, and that continuing on the current path is a form of madness," announced the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, the nonprofit organization that sets the clock each year. The group meets annually since 1947 to assess how close humanity is to self-destruction based on three main factors: (1) climate change, (2) nuclear proliferation and (3) disruptive technologies (such as artificial intelligence). This year, it cited continuing trends in multiple "global existential threats" including nuclear weapons, climate change, AI, infectious diseases and conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East. It also pointed to the spread of misinformation and conspiracy theories as a "potent threat multiplier" that undermines public discourse in general and about these very issues. While these threats are not new, the scientists said that "despite unmistakable signs of danger, national leaders and their societies have failed to do what is needed to change course." They are particularly concerned about the U.S., China and Russia, countries they say have the "collective power to destroy civilization" and the "prime responsibility to pull the world back from the brink." The Bulletin hopes the movement of the clock's second hand — as incremental as it may seem — will serve as a wake-up call to world leaders. The Bulletin has repositioned the clock hands 26 times since 1947. It first moved (from seven to three minutes before midnight) in 1949, after the Soviet Union successfully tested its first atomic bomb. At the time, the prospect of a nuclear arms race between the U.S. and the Soviet Union was considered the greatest danger to humanity.
Runners Trip, Stumble, And Roll To Victory At Annual Downhill Cheese Chase. A German YouTuber tripped, stumbled and tumbled his way to victory for the second year running at one of Britain’s most bizarre and zaniest sports contests. Tom Kopke, of Munich, was king of Cooper’s Hill in the traditional annual “Cheese Rolling Competition” in Brockworth, England. What is a “Cheese Chase” you ask? Let me be the first to tell you. Runners plunged down a 200-yard (180 meter) perilously steep hill in pursuit of a speeding wheel of Double Gloucester cheese. Kopke was the first to reach the bottom of the hill behind the cheese. “All the people at the top said they were going to steal my title but this is mine,” a shirtless Kopke declared as he clutched his prize — the 7-pound (3-kilogram) circle of cheese, of course. “I risked my life for this. It’s my cheese. Back to back.” The contest, traditionally held on the late-May public holiday near Gloucester (about 90 miles west of London), dates back at least two centuries, maybe longer. It’s attended by thousands, who pack the woods flanking the hill or take cover behind fences at the bottom, as competitors from around the world risk serious injury in the hope of glory. Gravity and acceleration combine to leave few runners on their feet, leading to epic wipeouts that can result in twisted ankles, broken collarbones and numerous concussions. Ava Logan, from London, won the women’s race after somersaulting and rolling at least a dozen times as she clutched her head. “I will probably feel it tomorrow,” she said. “It felt quite long coming down and then I hit my head. I’m down, that’s what matters. I’m fine.”
June LAC-REIA Meeting. Join us on Thursday night, June 12, 2025, 6:30 to 9:30 pm, when Ken Letourneau shows us how to invest in tax liens and tax deeds. For the past 15 years, Ken has specialized in tax lien certificates and tax deed properties, actively participating in tax sale auctions across the United States. Ken’s expertise is built on a foundation of hands-on experience — from navigating complex deals to overcoming real-world challenges. He doesn’t just talk the talk; he walks it. His continued participation in auctions keeps him at the cutting edge of the tax sale space. Iman Cultural Center, 3376 Motor Avenue (between National and Palms), Culver City CA. FREE Admission. Please RSVP at our website, LARealEstateInvestors.com.
Vendors Expo Returns! Our world-famous "Vendors Expo" returns in 2025, on Thursday night, June 12, 2025. The Vendor Expo opens starting at 6:30 pm. We'll have 30+ of the finest vendors featuring real estate products and services you will want to utilize as a successful investor. Our Vendor Expo will be held at the Iman Cultural Center, 3376 Motor Avenue (between National and Palms), Culver City CA. FREE Admission. Please RSVP at our website, LARealEstateInvestors.com.
This Week. Investors will continue to look for additional information about tariff policies. For economic reports, the ISM national manufacturing sector index will be released today and the services sector index on Wednesday. The Trade Deficit will come out on Thursday. The key Employment report will be released on Friday, and these figures on the number of jobs, the unemployment rate, and wage inflation are always closely watched.
Weekly Changes:
10-Year Treasuries: Fell 010 bps
Dow Jones Average: Rose 500 points
NASDAQ: Rose 300 points
Calendar:
Monday (6/2): ISM Manufacurting
Wednesday (6/4): ISM Services
Friday (6/6): ISM Employment
For further information, comments, and questions:
Lloyd Segal
President
