Current Affairs
November 24, 2025
Existing Home Sales Rise
NAR: Existing-home sales up 1.2% in October
By Larry Adams
November 21, 2025 | 11:28 am CST
WASHINGTON — Existing-home sales increased by 1.2% in October, according to the National Association of Realtors Existing-Home Sales Report.
Month-over-month sales increased in the Midwest and South, showed no change in the Northeast, and fell in the West. Year-over-year sales rose in the Northeast, Midwest and South, and decreased in the West.
“Home sales increased in October even with the government shutdown due to homebuyers taking advantage of lower mortgage rates,” said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. “First-time homebuyers are facing headwinds in the Northeast due to a lack of supply and in the West because of high home prices. First-time buyers fared better in the Midwest because of the plentiful supply of affordable houses and in the South because there is sufficient inventory.”
“Rents are decelerating which will reduce inflation and encourage the Federal Reserve to continue cutting rates and pulling back their quantitative tightening,” Yun added. “This will help bring more homebuyers into the market since the Fed rate has an indirect impact on mortgage rates.”
National snapshot
Total Existing-Home Sales for October
- 1.2% increase in existing-home sales1 month-over-month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.10 million.
- 1.7% increase in sales year-over-year.
Inventory in October
- 1.52 million units: Total housing inventory2, down 0.7% from September and up 10.9% from October 2024 (1.37 million).
- 4.4-month supply of unsold inventory, down from 4.5 months in September and up from 4.1 months in October 2024.
Median Sales Price in October
- $415,200: Median existing-home price3 for all housing types, up 2.1% from one year ago ($406,800) – the 28th consecutive month of year-over-year price increases.
Single-Family and Condo/Co-op Sales
- Single-Family Homes in October
0.8% increase in sales to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.71 million, up 1.9% from October 2024. - $420,600: Median home price in October, up 2.2% from last year.
- Condominiums and Co-ops in October
5.4% increase in sales to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 390,000, unchanged from October 2024. - $363,700: Median price, up 0.9% from October 2024.
Regional Snapshot for Existing-Home Sales in October
- Northeast
No change month over month; sales remain at an annual rate of 490,000, up 4.3% year over year.
$503,700: Median price, up 6.5% from October 2024. - Midwest
5.3% increase in sales month over month to an annual rate of 990,000, up 2.1% year over year.
$319,500: Median price, up 4.6% from October 2024. - South
0.5% increase in sales month over month to an annual rate of 1.86 million, up 2.8% year over year.
$362,300: Median price, up 0.3% from October 2024. - West
1.3% decrease in sales month over month to an annual rate of 760,000, down 2.6% year over year.
$628,500: Median price, up 0.1% from October 2024.
Realtors Confidence Index for October
- 34 days: Median time on market for properties, up from 33 days last month and 29 days in October 2024.
- 32% of sales were first-time homebuyers, up from 30% in July and 27% in October 2024.
- 29% of transactions were cash sales, down from 30% a month ago and up from 27% in October 2024.
- 16% of transactions were individual investors or second-home buyers, up from 15% last month and down from 17% in October 2024
- 2% of sales were distressed sales4 (foreclosures and short sales), unchanged from a month ago and October 2024.
Mortgage Rates
- 6.25%: The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage in October, according to Freddie Mac, down from 6.35% in September and 6.43% one year ago.
https://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/news/woodworking-industry-news/nar-existing-home-sales-12-october
November 17, 2025
PFA Austin Meeting Highlights
Polyurethane Foam Association Austin Meeting Tackles Industry Issues, Shares Technical Advances
Heller And Knaub Recognized With Lifetime Achievement Awards; Econic Technologies Wins Dr. Herman T. Stone Technical Excellence Awards
Austin, TX (November 14, 2025)—Members and guests of The Polyurethane Foam Association gathered in Austin, TX recently for its annual Fall meeting to discuss the current business environment and other factors affecting the flexible polyurethane foam industry.
More than 140 industry professionals, including C-suite executives, researchers, EHS specialists, marketers, and technologists came to the Omni in Downtown Austin for networking and presentations on foam sustainability, market trends, and the regulatory environment.
“Now, more than ever, it’s important for our industry to share the knowledge uncovered by the work of our members and staff,” noted Dr. Philippe Knaub, PFA President. “An old Chinese curse says, ‘may you live in interesting times.’ We are certainly in interesting times today.”
PFA’s Industry Issues Session provided updates on end use markets, with special emphasis on bedding and carpet cushion. In addition, presenters covered topics such as hiring and retaining quality employees, updates on European regulations that may impact North American producers, and sustainability.
The Thursday afternoon Technical Program included presentations on new technologies for compressing foam buns for more efficient shipping, deriving polyols from CO2, alternatives to tertiary amines and tin-based catalysts, and new software for assessing sustainability by individual company facility and type of product.
Following PFA’s Technical Program, Richard Stevenson of Econic Technologies was named winner of the Dr. Herman Stone Technical Excellence Award. The award is voted on by attendees present for the Technical Program. The award is named for Dr. Herman T. Stone, who served as PFA’s first Technical Director. In 2007, Dr. Stone was inducted into the Flexible Polyurethane Foam Hall of Fame.
Industry Veterans Honored With Lifetime Achievement Awards
During the Association’s General Business Meeting, two longtime industry executives, Rob Heller and Philippe Knaub, were honored with PFA’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Recipients of the award have 25 or more years of service to the industry, and a record of significant professional achievement in the areas of FPF production technology, plant or equipment engineering, research and product development, or sales and marketing. In PFA’s 45-year history, less than 40 individuals have received this award.
Heller has a career with Future Foam, Inc. that spans more than four decades. He began working on the production line just after finishing college in 1977, then worked his way up, first as a research associate, then Director of Research and Development, and finally as the company’s Vice President overseeing R&D, environment, and procurement. Bruce Schneider, Future Foam President, credited Heller with being involved in many of the business decisions that have led to the company’s success. Heller has long served on PFA’s Executive Committee, and is a past President of the Association.
Knaub, the outgoing PFA President, also has more than 40 years in the industry, working with Dow Chemical Company in Europe and the United States, ultimately overseeing Global R&D for Dow’s urethanes, latex, and other product lines. He was also Chief Technical Officer for FXI, Inc., one of the largest foam manufacturers in North America. He is also active with CertiPUR-US®, providing technical assistance for this critical foam certification program, and will continue serving PFA as its Immediate Past President and member of its Executive Committee.
“Rob and Philippe have been exceptional leaders for their companies, and for PFA,” said Cam McLaughlin, new PFA President. “A highlight of our meeting is the opportunity to have them both here to honor them in person, and to thank them for helping steer the industry forward.”
New Officers Elected
- Cam McLaughlin, Elite Comfort Solutions, President
- Bill Gollnitz, Plastomer, First Vice President
- Kevin Zhou, Sinomax-USA, Second Vice President
- Frank Donato, VPC, Treasurer
- Philippe Knaub, Immediate Past President
- Ted Smiecinski, Future Foam
- Stephen Wallace, TempurSealy
- Mike Irwin, Woodbridge Group
- Jason Goger, Wm. T. Burnett
- Karl Gust, BASF
- Scott Skolnekovich, Covestro
- Susan Kilpatrick, Evonik
- Rob Einterz, Monument Chemical
- Aaron Hart, Momentive
- Robert Smith, Wanhua
- Barry Gabelman, Chemfoam
- Hamdy Khalil, Emeritus
The Polyurethane Foam Association is a trade association founded in 1980 to help educate regulators, users, allied industries, and others about flexible polyurethane foam. PFA provides facts on environmental, health and safety issues and technical information on the performance of flexible polyurethane foam (FPF) in consumer and industrial products. FPF is used as a key comfort component in most upholstered furniture and mattress products, along with automotive seating, carpet cushion, packaging, and numerous other applications.
To learn more, visit www.pfa.org.
November 4, 2025
Trucking Update
Largest Trucking Capacity Purge In History Coming
by Tyler Durden
Monday, Nov 03, 2025 – 07:25 AM
By Craig Fuller, CEO of FreightWaves
The Calm Before the Storm: Freight’s Current Reality
The freight industry is experiencing what experts describe as one of the most interesting times ever in freight—though unfortunately, not in a positive way for most participants. Motor carriers and freight brokers across the spectrum are feeling significant pain from weak freight volumes and a rapidly changing operating climate. What we’re witnessing appears to be the calm before a significant storm, with indicators pointing toward what could become the largest capacity washout in trucking history.
With the risk of the market eliminating 600,000 active drivers, the largest capacity purge in history may be coming, bringing COVID-like spot rates. The difference this time is that there won’t be a flood of immigrants created by Biden’s open borders, which offered an endless supply of truck drivers. The capacity relief valve for shippers and brokers is forever shut, meaning carriers will have to pay up in terms of higher pay and bonuses for truck drivers. Capacity will also be much harder to find.
https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-0&features=e30%3D&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1983643301203833314&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fmarkets%2Flargest-trucking-capacity-purge-history-coming&sessionId=d9c5de1446dad107c3a8073b2418fdab71401d5d&siteScreenName=zerohedge&theme=light&widgetsVersion=2615f7e52b7e0%3A1702314776716&width=550px
Factors Contributing to the Freight Market Decline
Freight volumes have dramatically decreased, with year-over-year figures showing a staggering 18% decline. This precipitous drop has created severe challenges for motor carriers struggling to find loads and for freight brokers operating with minimal volume to sustain their businesses.
The situation is particularly dire for brokers with spot market exposure, as the scarcity of freight leaves little room for profitability. Even the contract market presents significant challenges, as many brokers have locked in business at unsustainably low rates while competing against asset-based carriers. This has created a system where many participants are underwater, and it is not sustainable.
Small motor carriers face additional pressures, especially those that have hired non-domiciled CDL drivers who may now be unable to meet regulatory requirements such as the English Language Proficiency (ELP) mandate.
Fraud continues to accelerate, as fraudsters have figured out how to reverse engineer Highway’s and RMIS’ systems. This has caused a sharp increase in fraud, and brokers—afraid of getting stung—have learned the hard way and are no longer overriding even the most benign flags. This can sting even the most legitimate carriers if they receive false positives in compliance verification systems. Any carrier that gets flagged by these fraud mitigation systems can find themselves locked out of participating in almost any brokerage freight—a death sentence for carriers struggling to survive.
Capacity Purge and Regulatory Changes
The anticipated “great purge” of capacity stems from several converging factors, most notably recent changes in U.S. immigration policy and enforcement. According to research from J.B. Hunt, these policy changes—particularly regarding non-domiciled Commercial Driver’s Licenses (CDLs) and English Language Proficiency requirements—are expected to remove between 5% to 12% of CDL holders (214,000–437,000 drivers) from the U.S. supply over the next two to three years.
On September 26, 2025, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) issued an emergency ruling that immediately restricts the issuance and renewal of non-domiciled CDLs. The FMCSA estimates that 97% of the current 200,000 non-domiciled CDL holders will be unable to satisfy the new requirements, leading to their likely exit from the industry over the next one to three years. This represents approximately 5% of all registered CDLs in the United States.
Concurrently, stricter enforcement of English Language Proficiency regulations has resulted in over 23,000 violations, with more than 5,000 resulting in out-of-service orders. According to industry analyst Avery Vise, this enforcement alone could remove approximately 20,000 drivers annually from the workforce.
When accounting for the overlap between drivers affected by non-domiciled CDL restrictions and ELP enforcement, plus undocumented drivers and restrictions on new hires, the total at-risk population could exceed 600,000 drivers—representing about 17% of active drivers, according to transport economist Noël Perry.
Carriers that rely upon immigrant labor or carriers that don’t qualify under the new rules will likely go out of business.
Economic Implications of the Capacity Purge
The combination of regulatory changes and prolonged freight recession conditions is creating an environment ripe for significant market disruption. Industry experts anticipate numerous bankruptcies among both carriers and brokers in the coming months as financial pressures mount.
The market rationalization expected to follow this capacity purge will likely favor the largest asset carriers, who have the resources to weather the storm and adapt to the changing regulatory landscape. This represents a significant shift from the recent market dynamic where the availability of truck drivers supplied through immigration enabled many small operators to expand their fleets without adhering to traditional operational requirements.
As the market corrects, motor carriers will need to offer improved driver pay and incentives to attract qualified drivers from a diminishing pool of eligible candidates. This shift toward a more traditional supply-demand balance may ultimately lead to improved profitability for surviving carriers, though the transition period will undoubtedly be challenging.
Navigating the Road Ahead: Freight’s Path to Recovery
The freight industry stands at the precipice of a transformative period. The anticipated capacity washout, driven by regulatory changes and sustained market weakness, will likely lead to accelerated spot rates and stabilizing contract rates as the market rebalances.
While the timeline for this transition remains uncertain, the eventual outcome points toward a market that operates according to more traditional supply and demand principles. For shippers, this means preparing for potential rate volatility and capacity constraints. For carriers, especially larger ones that can navigate the regulatory landscape, it represents an opportunity to return to more sustainable operating conditions after an extended period of market disruption.
If volumes pop—which doesn’t exist right now—hold on to your hat. It’s going to be one of the best freight markets that carriers have seen in some time. While the road to that point will be challenging, the industry may ultimately emerge stronger and more stable once this unprecedented capacity purge has run its course.
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/largest-trucking-capacity-purge-history-coming
October 27, 2025
Housing Highlights
US Housing Inventory Marks 102nd Consecutive Week of Annual Gains: Report
Buyers have begun ghosting sellers in some markets.
Reporter
10/27/2025|Updated: 10/27/2025
0:00
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The number of residential properties active on the market jumped 15.1 percent yearly, marking the 102nd consecutive week of annual gains in housing inventory, according to the latest weekly analysis report from Realtor published on Oct. 23.
As new listings went up 4.7 percent year over year, and mortgage rates registered a steady drop since May, more sellers are putting up homes for sale across the country hoping to incentivize buyers waiting on the sidelines.
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, backed by Freddie Mac, is currently at 6.19 percent, as of Oct. 23. At the beginning of the year, it was over 7 percent. The number is relatively high when compared to the average 3 percent rates in 2021.
There were around 1.1 million homes for sale last week, said Realtor, adding that it was the 25th week in a row where the number was above a million. Active inventory is growing faster than new listings indicating a slower sales cycle with homes sitting on the market far longer than before.
The average period of time a property sits on the market is currently four days longer than a year ago, but this rate is coming down signaling an increasing interest from buyers.
According to real estate brokerage Redfin, the median number of days a home presently sits on the market is 48. The median sale price is $391,250, as of Oct. 19, while the asking price is $399,675—with both numbers registering a considerable increase annually.
All numbers point to a buyers market.
“Buyers are scoring deals, especially those who can pay all cash and/or those who are open to new construction,” said Amanda Peterson, a Redfin agent.
“One recent all-cash buyer paid $500,000 for a condo that was appraised at $685,000—and the seller agreed to pay upfront for six months of pricey HOA dues. And builders are offering steep discounts on new homes, especially in areas where they already have a lot of inventory and are still actively building. Builders are dropping prices, giving up to $20,000 in concessions, throwing in appliances, and buying down mortgage rates, sometimes to below 4 percent.”
More sellers than before are willing to offer discounts and concessions.
However, “stubbornly high prices” are keeping away some buyers hopeful they may see a reduction in property prices.
“Nationwide, there are half a million more home sellers than buyers,” said Redfin.
The home sales numbers are skewed in such a way that the brokerage reports some buyers beginning to “ghost” sellers.
Last month, there were 53,000 home-purchase agreements nationwide that got canceled, said Redfin, which is 13.6 percent more than in 2024.
In markets such as Florida and Texas, there is a higher proportion of home buyers who are ghosting sellers.
In Tampa, Florida, 20.1 percent of home-purchase agreements were canceled, up from 17.7 percent a year earlier, said Redfin.
“I’m seeing a lot of buyer’s remorse,” said Jo Chavez, a Redfin agent. “Buyers make an offer, then they start worrying they could have found a better deal or a better home because there are more home sellers than buyers in the market. Some other buyers are backing out because they’re concerned about job security.”
The Federal Reserve is set to meet on Wednesday, amid an ongoing government shutdown, with policymakers expected to lower interest rates by 25 basis points, lowering the target to a range of 3.75 to 4 percent.
Mortgage rates are closely tied to the central bank’s interest rates, and recent declines have been attributed to the predicted lowering of interest rates.
October 22, 2025
The World We Live In
The AWS Outage Bricked People’s $2,700 Smartbeds
· Oct 22, 2025 at 9:40 AM
When Amazon Web Services went offline, people lost control of their cloud-connected smart beds, getting stuck in reclined positions or roasting with the heat turned all the way up.
Read More Here:
https://www.404media.co/the-aws-outage-bricked-peoples-2-700-smartbeds
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