Every American's Social Security number, address may have been stolen in hack

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1. One-third of home builders are slashing prices as confidence in the market falls to 8-month low

Lack of sales stemming from buyers sitting on the sidelines due to high home prices and mortgage rates pushed the National Association of Home Builders' monthly confidence index down to 39 points in August. A year ago, the index stood at 50.

• In August, one-third of builders reduced prices, with the average cut at 6%, and 64% offered sales incentives—the highest since April 2019.

Despite some builders' optimism about future sales, the overall sentiment remains low. Builders hope for improvement as mortgage rates decline, but many buyers are still waiting for further drops before entering the market.

2. Cooling July inflation sets stage for Fed rate cut

Inflation extended a run of cooler readings in July, sealing the case for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates at its meeting next month.

The consumer-price index rose 2.9% from a year earlier, the Labor Department said Wednesday, the lowest reading since 2021 and slightly below economists’ expectations of 3%. Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy items, was 3.2%, also a three-year low.

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3. More Nuggets

✌️ America’s top listing agents don’t want to deal with the buyer’s agent commission mess. (HousingWire)

⏹️ FTC finalizes rule to prohibit sale or purchase of fake reviews. (RetailDive)

📉 Realtor.com's midyear, revised update for its 2024 Forecast predicts mortgage rates will end the year at 6.3%. (Realtor.com)

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4. Every American's Social Security number, address may have been stolen in hack

A hacking group called USDoD claims to have stolen 2.7 billion records of personal information from Americans, including their Social Security numbers and physical addresses.

USDoD reportedly tried to sell the data for $3.5 million but has now posted most of it for free on an online exchange for stolen personal data.

The data was stolen from National Public Data, a platform that offers personal information to employers, private investigators, staffing agencies and others doing background checks.

5. Investor home purchases post biggest increase in two years: Redfin

Investor activity in the U.S. housing market is rebounding as the market softens, with investor purchases rising 3.4% year-over-year in Q2 2024, the largest increase since Q2 2022.

• Investors bought 16.8% of all homes sold, focusing on single-family homes, which made up 69.4% of their purchases. The $43 billion they spent represents a 13.7% annual increase.

While investor activity surged in cities like San Jose and Las Vegas, it declined in places like Fort Lauderdale and Providence. Link to full report.

☀️ You’re all caught up. See you on Monday!

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