Daily Rundown

May 12, 2026

Chart of the Day

Number of the Day

110.6 - The homebuyer affordability index in April, indicating that the median family has 110.6 percent of the qualifying income for the median house, down from 113.5 in March and a long-term average of 135.3, but among the highest readings of the last four years

Quote of the Day

"Retailer demand remains broad-based, spanning new and legacy retailers across a wide range of categories in all of our platforms and geographies. And the customers, particularly the Gen Z customer, want to come to our centers. And you're seeing that in traffic growth, and you're seeing it in retailer sales." - Simon Property CEO Eli Simon

Monday's Highlights

Existing home sales (April) ticked up by 0.2 percent to an annualized pace of 4.0 million, still little changed since early 2023

The median existing home price (April) came in at $417,700, an increase of 0.9 percent on a year-over-year basis.

Quick Commentary

The housing market is very slowing normalizing. Thanks to a downtrend in household formation and a modest upturn in inventory, the supply/demand imbalance is no longer intensifying, and prices, as a consequence, are flatlining. There is some lingering upside risk given that even the most conservative estimates still peg the housing shortage at roughly one million units, but the most likely path from here is one of subdued price increases as inventories continue to build and sales continue to edge higher in response.

Today's Highlights

CPI

Small business optimism

Daily Trivia

Thanks to a post-crisis economic recovery and a leading position in telecom equipment production, what was the only developed market to outperform the S&P 500 in the second half of the 1990s?

(Monday's Question: Who was the last U.S. president whose term in office coincided with three different Federal Reserve chairmanships? Answer: Jimmy Carter (Burns, Miller, Volcker))