MarketWatch: Weekly Real Estate Update for Riverdale, Bronx – 7/7/2025 – 7/14/2025

Did You Know?

* Have you heard of HOU$LE? It’s Wordle for Real Estate. Each day a new property is featured and you have to try and guess the list price within 5% via a series of 6 pictures and clues. Beyond the bragging rights, it’s surprisingly useful. Clients love comparing scores, colleagues get competitive, and you stay sharp on pricing trends without trying. Today’s game features one of my listings 🙂 Check it out HERE.

*  In May, emergency departments recorded 134 visits for tick bites per 100,000 visits, compared to 112 in 2025.  June saw 130 visits per 100,000 versus 89 the previous year, up 46%! (Peter Attia)

* Japan has invested lots in storm infrastructure and advanced early warning systems that have helped Japan significantly curb fatalities from natural disasters. Supercomputers, weather satellites and radar feed advanced weather forecasts and warnings that are then beamed within minutes to local television and radio networks, a network of loudspeakers, and cell phones. (J-Alert, an early warning system primarily used for quakes, tsunamis and North Korean missile alerts, but also for the most serious extreme weather events, is designed to send out nationwide alerts within seconds.) Local municipalities are responsible for issuing evacuation orders and other directives, accompanied by the swift opening of evacuation centers at schools and other public buildings, which are supplied with futons and other emergency provisions.

* Want to know what Amy Astley’s (editor of Architectural Digest since 2016) formula for a perfect room of one’s own is: 

“Lots of windows, natural light, books, 
personal objects, and art. No status sofas 
or trophy design pieces. Fireplace, kids, 
dogs, and friends.”

……from the editor who showcases trophy design pieces and status sofas in almost every issue of Architectural Digest…..and rarely features an AD cover without a D-list celebrity…..?

* Have you noticed the concept of Terrazzo – using small fragments of marble connected – is now being applied to much larger stone ‘waste’ with multiple stones joined together with resin in a mosaic-style fashion? (FT)

* Nouvelle Monaco, another sunny place for shady people?  Próspera is an unusual 1,000-acre quasi-independent libertarian territory, owned by a group of international financiers, on the northern coast of the Honduran island of Roatán. Personal income tax is 5 percent, corporation tax is 1 percent, and a new business can be set up via mobile phone in a matter of hours. Companies enrolled in the special economic zone can pick and choose from the laws of any country in the world, or propose bespoke regulation of their own. In 2023, Honduras president signed legislation to repeal the law that established Próspera and now their wealthy backers are claiming damages over $10 billion, roughly a third of Honduras’s GDP.  Is a “50-year legal stability guarantee” in a small country reliable?  The prior president from 2014 – 2022 and active promoter of the free zone legislation, was convicted by a U.S. court of trafficking hundreds of tons of cocaine and sentenced to 45 years in jail. (AIRMAIL)

Mortgage Rate Updates:

The average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage backed by Freddie Mac rose by 5 bps from the previous week 6.72% as of July 10th, rebounding from its lowest since April of 6.67% sen last week. “After declining for five consecutive weeks, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage moved slightly higher following a stronger than expected jobs report. Despite ongoing affordability challenges in the housing market, home purchase and refinance applications are responding to the downward trajectory in rates, increasing by 25% and 56%, respectively, compared to the same time last year,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist.

Source: Freddie Mac