What we’re reading (10/17)
“Opendoor’s iBuyer Model Is A Canary In The Economic Coal Mine” (Wired). “Opendoor is taking a pounding. Forty-two percent of the homes it sold in August made a loss, according to an analysis by market research firm YipitData. In places like Phoenix, Arizona, where cookie-cutter houses have attracted so-called iBuyers en masse, the numbers are even worse. Here, three out of every four homes Opendoor sold in August lost money. The company blames its current struggles on “the most rapid change in residential real estate fundamentals in 40 years.” It’s a change that’s hitting Opendoor and its competitors hard right now—and it could be coming for millions of homeowners next.”
“Markets Approve Of U.K.’s Reversal Of Tax Cuts” (New York Times). “The British pound and government bonds rose on Monday, after Britain’s finance minister of three days, Jeremy Hunt, reversed nearly all of the government’s promised tax cuts. But the future of the current government remains uncertain, as political analysts and even fellow lawmakers say Prime Minister Liz Truss has all but lost her power.”
“Who Is Going To Buy Cadillac’s $300,000 Hand-Built EV?” (TechCrunch). “[W]ith a price tag more than three times the average transaction price of a vehicle from General Motors’ luxury marque, it’s difficult to imagine many Cadillacs of that heft — no matter how highly customized — will be quietly charging behind suburban garage doors.”
“What Warren Buffet bailing on Chinese Economy Signifies As Tensions Rise” (New York Post). “If Buffett is ditching China, it means that, in his view, the risk/reward ratio has tilted decisively into the red.”
“Why Smartphones Are Getting Cheaper While Everything Else Is Skyrocketing, According To The Government” (CNBC). “It turns out, smartphones aren’t getting cheaper. They’re getting better. And that’s why the CPI shows them deflating instead of inflating like a lot of other goods.”
