Weekly News (April 1, 2025)

Mortgage Interest Rates Review

United Mortgage Nation  4/1/2025

Federal Fund Rate: 4.25 -4.50%        Prime Rate: 7.25 – 7.50%

Home Buyers Tiptoe Back In, Even as Rates, Prices Stay High

높은 집값과 이재률에도, 주택구매자들 조용히 움직이기 시작    

WSJ   3/31/25(Tue)

• House tours and loan applications are up, a sign that the market is stirring back to life. Prospective home buyers are starting to move off the sidelines because life is moving on, even if mortgage rates and prices are stuck.
• People who are having babies, retiring and getting new jobs are shopping for homes, according to real-estate agents and buyers. Home tours and mortgage applications are up—early signals that demand is rising as the spring selling season gets under way.
• The housing market is still unaffordable to many would be buyers, and it is too early to predict how the spring market will develop. But some buyers said they are done waiting for mortgage rates to go back to 3%. They are going ahead with purchases because they are increasingly accepting that mortgage rates are likely to stay around current levels in the coming months, if not longer, real-estate agents said.

Home owner’s Tax saving on Deduction

     주택소유주의 새금 공제 내역

Korea Daily     4/1/25(Tue)

For the Itemized Tas report the following deductions are available:

1. Mortgage Interests
2. Property Tax
3. Home office : Exclusive Space rent, office supply, office equipment, etc
4. Credit for Energy Efficiency: Solar energy, energy efficient HVAC, Biomass, boiler, etc

5. HOA & Improvement: Maintenance fee for rental property
6. Partial use for Business for self-employed
7. Mortgage Points
8. Modification Cost for medical purpose

Two Houses Show Market Imbalance

       주택 시장, 현저한 시장 불균형 보여

WSJ     4/1/25(Tue)

• Two houses went on the market for similar prices at about the same time earlier this year. One got 25 offers. The other got none. There are many variables that determine demand, from the condition of the house to the price set by the seller. But one factor is having a major impact right now: geography.
• The divergence is playing out in places like Wyckoff, N.J., where a four-bedroom ranch was on the market for just over a week in early February. With dozens of offers, the winning buyers contracted to buy for about $200,000 above the roughly $1.1 million asking price.
• But in Miami, a six-bedroom with a grand staircase and pool has sat on the market for nearly two months without a firm offer. The sellers cut the price by $9,000 to $990,000.

• Home sales ticked up nationwide in February. And overall, prices keep climbing. A measure of prices across 20 cities rose 4.7% from a year earlier in January. New York had the highest annual gain, at 7.7%. Prices in Tampa fell 1.5%. The gap between price growth for the 20 cities is widening compared with a year earlier in January.
• Bidding wars in the Northern New Jersey suburb of New York, known for its good schools, are still common, she said. Ranch style homes like the one she is selling are popular with young families and retirees looking to downsize to a single story.
• Meanwhile, Monica Cardoso, a Miami real-estate agent, said during the pandemic, houses similar to 15210 SW 15th St. were in high demand. Buyers lined up down the street at open houses, ready to make offers immediately. But so far, there has only been one informal lowball offer.

Median Days on Market

WSJ  4/1/25

On Tariff math, Democrats and Republicans have opposing views

관세 분석에, 민주당 공화당이 각각 반대 예견   

WSJ   3/27/25(Thu)

• Economists are nearly unanimous in the view that tariffs raise prices for consumer in the country that enacts them.
• Republicans may have been slow to embrace that view, economists say, some Democrats seem to have harbor exaggerated fears of tariff inflation.
• If Trump were to impose 10% tariffs on every product imported into the U.S., prices would rise, but not necessarily by 10%. Tariffs affect prices on goods, not services. The U.S. is a service economy. Two-third of our spending is on service. Tariffs are really only going to affect goods, so they only affect that one-third.
• Also, economists draw a distinction between the tariffs Trump has threatened and those he has enacted. Many of Trump’s proposed import taxes have been scuttled, scaled back or postponed, often after rounds of tense negotiation.

Apple and Musk Tussle Over Satellite Expansion

애플과 머스크, 위성 통신 확장에서 큰 씨름 예상

WSJ   3/31/25(Mon)

• The iPhone maker is investing heavily in satellite-based communications that keep users connected in places where traditional wireless signals aren’t available. Musk’s SpaceX ,meanwhile, has launched more than 550 satellites that provide cellphone connectivity via its Starlink service.
• To build capacity, the companies are competing for valuable spectrum rights—airwaves to carry their signals which are in limited supply. Apple’s outer-space investments have drawn Musk’s ire. SpaceX has pushed federal regulators to stall an Apple-funded satellite-expansion effort.
• Apple last year invested more than $1 billion in the satellite-operator Global star, the technology giant’s in-house satellite connection feature on iPhones, allowing users to send text messages, call emergency assistance, and seek roadside help in areas where cellphone service isn’t available.

Open AI Claims an Image-Creation Breakthrough for ChatGPT

오픈 AI 사, 챗GTP의 화상제작 능력에 돌파구 마련

WSJ    3/26/25(Wed)

• OpenAI unveiled an updated version of its artificial-intelligence system GPT-4o that can generate more-realistic images, the result of a yearlong effort with human trainers.
• GPT-4o replaces DALL-E 3 as the default image-generation model behind OpenAI’s Chat-GPT, and the ability to use it is now available to ChatGPT Free, Plus, Team and Pro users, the company said.
• With the improvements in research made to GPT-4o, Chat-GPT’s image generation is a lot more useful for consumers and businesses. Whereas prior iterations of its AI systems weren’t able to generate paragraphs of readable text with images, GPT-4o is capable of doing so, it said.
• Wall Street Journal owner News Corp has a content-licensing partnership with OpenAI.

Secret of HMGMA is Robot in the factory

    힘든일은 로봇이… 현대차 미국 사바나 공장의 비밀

Korea Daily    3/31/25(Mon)

• HMGMA(HyunDai Motor Group Metaplant America) is operating by about 1000 4 legs-walking robot, “SPOT” developed by Boston Dynamics, a subsidiary of HyunDai Group.
• The manufacturing factory in Ellabell, GA is a highly automated and equipped with high-technology: 950 SPOTs are allocated for driverless transportation, 48 STOPs are for parking assistant, and 700 SPOTs are allocated for welding and painting.
• Engineers in the factory said almost 100 % automation and smart assembly system have been achieved by combining robot technology, AI, and vision technology.
• The factory is unusually quite because SPOTs are moving smoothly and most tools are operated by battery, not by A/C power.

SPOT Robot in HMGMA

Korea Daily 3/31/25