In this Real Estate News Brief for the week ending August 12th, 2023... you’ll hear what Fed officials are forecasting for housing inflation, why a New York judge tossed an Airbnb lawsuit, and the top ten cities for build-to-rent single-family homes.   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 that features two reports on inflation. The Labor Department reported that the Consumer Price Index was slightly higher in July than it was in June, although the reported figure for both months was .2%. The slight increase was enough to bring the yearly rate up a tiny bit, from 3% to 3.2%, but as MarketWatch reports, the fluctuation may not be enough to worry the Fed. The core rate, which eliminates prices for food and fuel, was also up .2% with an annual rate that was down slightly from 4.8% to 4.7%.   According to Fed researchers, housing costs account for 90% of the inflation rate. They say that shelter costs were up .4% with a 7.7% year-over-year increase. But that number also represents a slow down the cost of housing. In March, the year-over-year rate was 8.2%. Researchers say: “Various market indicators, including house prices and rents, suggest that the housing market has slowed significantly with the rise in interest rates.” They say: “Our baseline forecast suggests that year-over-year shelter inflation will continue to slow through late 2024 and may even turn negative by mid-2024.”   The Producer Price Index for July also came out this last week and it showed an unexpected increase of .3% in July. That’s up from .1% in June. That brings the annual rate up from a minimal .1% in June to .8%. The core rate also rose from .1% in June to .2% in July, for an annual rate of 2.7%. Economists are generally not anticipating another rate increase by the Fed in September, but they also can’t rule it out, especially when they see inflation reports that any kind of increase.   Fed officials are also taking a wait-and-see stance. San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly is one of them. She said in a TV interview this last week: “There’s still more work to do” and “there’s a lot of time between now and September” indicating that incoming data will influence a decision on whether to hike rates another time. Fed officials raised the overnight lending rate a quarter point at their July meeting, to a range of 5.25% to 5.5%.   The number of people applying for unemployment benefits surged a bit last week. There were 21,000 additional claims for a total of 248,000. But the total number of people collecting benefits was down by 8,000 to 1.64 million. The overall trend has been a decline in claims, showing that the job market is still in good shape despite the Fed’s effort to bring the economy, and the job market, down a notch or two.   Mortgage Rates   Mortgage rates crept higher for a third straight week, and are just a hair under 7% for your typical loan. Freddie Mac says the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was up 6 basis points to 6.96%. The 15-year was up 9 points to 6.34%.   In other news making headlines…   Judge Dismisses Lawsuit by Airbnb, NY Landlords    A New York judge tossed an Airbnb lawsuit against rules that could reduce the overall number of available rentals. The lawsuit was filed by Airbnb and three New York City hosts to challenge a requirement that listings must be registered or face penalties. That will require a registration fee. Hosts must also be present when the units are being rented.    They say the rule will make it nearly impossible to provide short-term rentals in the city’s five boroughs and were seeking $85 million in damages. It is also expected to cause problems for landlords with tenants who rent their units illegally. The judge says the rules will probably not be perfect, but will make it possible to enforce a ban on illegal short-term rentals.   Remote Work Also