In this Real Estate News Brief for the week ending July 29th, 2023… the Fed’s latest rate hike, how the central bank’s economic forecast has changed, and good news about the dreaded IRS “knock on the door.”   Hi, I'm Kathy Fettke and this is Real Estate News for Investors. If you like our podcast, please subscribe and leave us a review.   Economic News   We begin with economic news from this past week and a Fed meeting that resulted in yet another rate hike. The Federal Reserve raised the benchmark rate a quarter point, to a range of 5.25% to 5.5%. That’s the highest it’s been in 22 years.    In a news conference after the meeting, Fed Chief Jerome Powell said that inflation has moderated somewhat, but the 2% target is still a ways off. He wouldn’t say whether Fed officials are leaning toward another rate hike in September. He said it would be a meeting-by-meeting data-driven decision.   A few of the other highlights from the Fed Chief’s press conference:   1 - The central bank is no longer expecting a recession because of higher rates. It is now predicting an economic slowdown, and a return to the “soft landing” idea. The latest report on the GDP shows the economy growing at an annual rate of 2.4% in the second quarter.   2 - The Fed keeps an eye on lending conditions and acknowledges that lending conditions are tighter and could tighten further. But as the Fed Chief commented, he doesn’t expect it will be a dramatic pullback on the money supply.   Higher interest rates are giving consumers one nice reward – higher interest rates for savings accounts and CDs. As reported by MarketWatch, it’s already possible to find CDs that are paying 5.75% and high-yield savings accounts that are offering more than 4%.   And to end the week on a really positive note, the Labor Department released the latest PCE report. It shows that inflation rose a tiny .2% in June. That brings the annual rate down to 3% from 3.8%. The core rate rose at the same .2% bringing the annual core rate down to 4.1% from 4.6%.   The job market remains very tight. Jobless claims were down for a third week in a row. They fell 7,000 to a total of 221,000. There was also a big drop in continuing claims. They were down 59,000 to a total of 1.69 million.    As for housing, existing home sales ticked higher for the first time in four months. The National Association of Realtor reports that contract signings were up .3% in June, although that number is still 15.6% lower than the previous June. NAR economist Lawrence Yun says the turnaround in sales indicates that the housing recession is over. He also cites increased home builder activity and a growing number of multiple offers among buyers competing for a tight supply. And that’s despite high interest rates.   New home sales lost a little momentum in June. According to the Commerce Department, they fell 2.5%. This number is volatile and often revised, however.   Mortgage Rates   Mortgage rates held steady this last week. Freddie Mac says the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was up 3 basis points to 6.81%. The 15-year was up 5 points to 6.11%.   In other news making headlines…   Landlord Tenant Role Reversal for Office Leasing   Office landlords are experiencing something new in the midst of all the office leasing distress. Prospective tenants are now asking landlords for proof that their finances are stable, some are even asking for a look at their books. That’s typically something that a landlord may want from a tenant, but not the other way around.   As CBRE’s Mary Ann Tighe told Bisnow: “It’s not enough to just say, ‘You know, we have bulletproof institutional dollars behind us. The landlords still want to know about the credit of their tenants, but the tenants now say, ‘OK, I’ll show you mine. You show me yours.”   IRS Says No More Surprise Visits!   The IRS announced a major policy change regarding surprise visits from agents. It’s a policy that has been in place for decades to send agency employees to homes and