In this Real Estate News Brief for the week ending October 21st, 2023... the mortgage rate milestone we didn’t want to see, proof that the laws of supply and demand are functioning in the housing market, and why five million U.S. homes are vacant in the midst of a housing crunch. We begin with economic news from this past week. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell spoke at the Economic Club of New York and said that inflation is still too high. But he acknowledged progress and says it’s still too early to know how the rate hikes will fully impact the economy. He didn’t say whether he was leaning toward the need for more rate hikes, but he did suggest they were possible. He says that officials will be keeping an eye on incoming inflation data but some analysts are speculating that we won’t see a new rate hike in November, and the chance of a rate hike in December is not that likely... ...That’s it for today. We’ll post links in the show notes to the original articles at newsforinvestors.com. You can also join RealWealth to find out more about housing issues and real estate investing. It’s free to join. And don’t forget to subscribe to this podcast!   Thanks for listening! Kathy Fettke   Links:   1 - https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/19/powell-says-inflation-is-still-too-high-and-lower-economic-growth-is-likely-needed-to-bring-it-down.html   2 - https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/18/30-year-fixed-mortgage-rate-just-hit-8percent-for-the-first-time-since-2000.html   3 - https://www.marketwatch.com/story/30-year-treasury-rate-briefly-pierces-5-amid-upward-revisions-to-u-s-economic-growth-4446456c   4 - https://www.marketwatch.com/story/jobless-claims-fall-to-nine-month-low-of-198-000-937baf54?mod=economy-politics   5 - https://www.marketwatch.com/story/u-s-home-sales-fell-in-september-to-the-lowest-level-since-the-great-recession-b7d29abf?mod=economy-politics   6 - https://www.marketwatch.com/story/housing-starts-rebound-in-september-after-sharp-drop-in-prior-month-9c78b9c1?mod=economic-report   7 - https://www.businessinsider.com/apartment-rent-decline-oakland-california-housing-shortage-crisis-solution-2023-10   8 -  https://therealdeal.com/national/2023/10/08/millions-of-homes-are-vacant-despite-squeezed-u-s-housing-market/