The Real Estate News Brief: Fed's Forecast on a Rate Cut, Consumer Pullback Arrives, Odd Punishment for NY Landlord

In this Real Estate News Brief for the week ending May 4th, 2024… why the Fed is holding firm on interest rates, what economists are saying about consumer spending, and why a NY landlord may be forced to live in one of his poorly maintained buildings.   Hi, I'm Kathy Fettke and this is Real Estate News for Investors. If you want more helpful information about real estate, the housing market, and rental property investment, please sign up for a free RealWealth membership at newsforinvestors.com. And please remember to subscribe to this podcast!   We begin with economic news from this past week. The big headline came from the Federal Reserve. Members of the Federal Open Market Committee decided to keep short-term rates right where they are, saying there's a "lack of further progress" on inflation. The federal funds rate has been within a range of 5.25 and 5.50% since July of 2023. There had been hope for a rate cut this spring but inflation has been inching higher instead of lower since the beginning of the year. The Fed wants to see a more sustainable decline toward the Fed's 2% target before it initiates a rate cut.   During his post-meeting speech, Fed Chief Jerome Powell emphasized that "inflation is still too high" and that the data has not given the central bank confidence that inflation is moving sustainably toward the target rate. But he did offer some assurance that it's unlikely that the Fed would be hiking rates at the next meeting. That triggered a lot of joy on Wall Street and a big stock rally. The Dow was up as much as 500 points at one point...    Links:   1 - https://www.cnbc.com/2024/05/01/fed-rate-decision-may-2024-.html   2 - https://www.cnbc.com/2024/05/01/fed-meeting-today-live-updates-on-may-fed-rate-decision.html 3 - https://www.marketwatch.com/story/feds-bowman-says-shes-still-willing-to-raise-rates-10c39c38?mod=mw_rss_topstories   4 - https://www.marketwatch.com/story/jobless-claims-inch-up-to-208-000-layoffs-still-extremely-low-7020b3f1?mod=economic-report   5 - https://www.marketwatch.com/story/home-prices-hit-new-all-time-high-case-shiller-says-in-the-face-of-economic-uncertainty-98aa35cc?mod=economic-report   6 - https://www.marketwatch.com/story/construction-spending-posts-bigger-than-expected-drop-e0f15c88?mod=economic-report   7 - https://www.freddiemac.com/pmms   8 - https://www.cnbc.com/2024/05/01/starbucks-mcdonalds-yum-earnings-show-consumers-pulling-back.html   9 - https://www.cnbc.com/2024/05/03/jobs-report-april-2024-us-job-growth-totaled-175000-in-april.html   10 - https://www.bisnow.com/new-york/news/multifamily/new-yorks-worst-landlord-indicted-on-80-counts-124094