In the pandemic, Americans rushed out and bought homes. Interest rates as you may recall were super low. And home prices soared. The Fed started raising interest rates. Which of course means it's more expensive to borrow money and more expensive to buy home.
The typical sales price of an existing family home in the United States in December: 372,700. The number of layoffs in the tech sector since the beginning of the year: 76,000. The number by which consumer spending fell in December: 0.2 percent. The increase in the cost of the same kind of carton of eggs bought by an editor on “The Daily” a year apart: 251 percent.
What do these numbers tell us about the state of the country’s economy?
Guest: Ben Casselman, an economics and business reporter for The New York Times.
Background reading:
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