Real Estate Providing Shelter In Choppy Markets

• The volatile summer for global markets continued last week. Trade tensions and monetary policy were front-and-center as the major US equity indexes declined for the fourth straight week.
• While European and Asian economies continue to show signs of stress, the US economy continues to chug along. Economic data and retail earnings indicated that the US consumer remains resilient.
• Ironically, the global economic slowdown has been a boon for the domestic-focused commercial and residential real estate sectors, which continue to outperform as interest rates continued their sharp decline.
• Home sales data is finally beginning to reflect the recent plunge in mortgage rates. After upward revisions, both new and existing home sales data beat estimates last month.
• Existing home sales recorded their first year-over-year increase in sales in seventeen months while the upwardly revised rate of new home sales in June was the strongest in twelve years.
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