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Mortgage demand plummeted to a 28-year low as the average long-term rate creeped up toward 8%.

According to leading real industry group Mortgage Bankers Association, the average rate on the benchmark 30-year home loan climbed to 7.53% this week — the highest rate since 2000.

A separate report on Bankrate showed that Thursday’s average on a 30-year fixed mortgage rate was even higher, 7.88%.

The rate was 6.75% at this time last year and mortgages below 3% were offered at the start of 2021. The mortgage rate hasn’t hit 8% since 1995.

Mortgage applications and applications to refinance a home have stalled dramatically, falling 6% and 7% for the week, respectively, according to MBA.

“The purchase market slowed to the lowest level of activity since 1995, as the rapid rise in rates pushed an increasing number of potential homebuyers out of the market,” MBA’s deputy chief economist Joel Kan told The Post.

The higher rates add hundreds of dollars a month in costs for borrowers, limiting how much they can afford in a market already unaffordable to many Americans.

They also discourage homeowners who locked in low rates two years ago from selling.

The lack of housing supply also weighs on sales of previously occupied US homes, which are down 22.3% through the first seven months of the year versus the same stretch in 2022.

In response, Kan noted that applications for adjustable-rate mortgages increased, making up 8% of purchase applications — up from 6.7% a month ago when interest rates sat around 7%.

ARMs typically offer lower interest rates, though they’re fixed for shorter periods of time.

Mortgage rates have been rising along with the 10-year Treasury yield, which has historically been considered a key benchmark for mortgage rates.

Thus, as mortgage rates near 8%, the 10- and 30-year Treasury yields have also reached new heights, hitting 4.8% and 4.925%, respectively, on Tuesday — both the highest since 2007.

The advances could keep upward pressure on inflation, giving the Federal Reserve reason to keep interest rates higher for longer.

In August, US inflation rose 3.7% from 2022. Though it’s still above the Fed’s 2% goal, it’s a stark difference from June 2022’s four-decade peak at 9.1%.

Inflation’s substantial cooldown in recent months has forced many home sellers to slash their asking prices to lure in potential buyers.

Those who don’t slash their asking price risk selling at a loss. Last month, a report by real estate brokerage Redfin revealed that home sellers in America’s major cities are already doing this.

San Francisco sellers had it the worst, Redfin’s report showed, as they are a whopping four times more likely than the average US home seller to take a loss.

Detroit is home to the second-highest share of homeowners who take a loss in their home-selling transactions, at 6.9%, followed by Chicago and New York, where 6.5% and 5.9% of homeowners take a loss in selling their homes, respectively.

Though the share of New York homeowners who reported a loss was half that in San Francisco, the cities were tied for the largest median loss in dollars, at $100,000, Redfin found in a separate analysis.

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Politics

112 crypto companies urge Senate to protect developers in market structure bill

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112 crypto companies urge Senate to protect developers in market structure bill

112 crypto companies urge Senate to protect developers in market structure bill

Coinbase, Kraken, Ripple, a16z and others pressed the Senate to add explicit protections for developers and non-custodial services in the market structure bill.

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World

Putin, Xi, and Kim set to unite at major military parade

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Putin, Xi, and Kim set to unite at major military parade

Kim Jong Un will join Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin at a major military parade in Beijing next week, North Korean and Chinese state media have announced.

The dictator will make the rare trip abroad as China marks the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War.

Mr Putin’s presence had already been confirmed. He and Mr Kim will be among 26 foreign leaders at the event, with none expected from the US or Western Europe.

China, Russia, and North Korea are close allies. Beijing has long been Pyongyang’s biggest aid and trading partner, while Mr Kim has been providing the Russian president with troops for his war in Ukraine.

There are currently no details of exactly when and for how long Mr Kim will be in China. It’s set to be his first visit in some six years – before the pandemic.

Hong Lei, assistant foreign minister of China, said the country would “warmly welcome” Mr Kim and that “maintaining, consolidating, and developing” relations between the two countries’ governments was a priority.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang, North Korea, October 7, 2024. Pic: Reuters
Image:
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang, North Korea, October 7, 2024. Pic: Reuters

Asked what message China was sending by hosting Mr Putin, Mr Lei said the Russian president’s attendance at commemorative events “further demonstrates the high level of the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era and declares the unity and solidarity between China and Russia”.

He added: “Facing an international landscape fraught with both change and turmoil, China and Russia, as founding members of the UN and permanent members of the Security Council, will continue to uphold the authority of the United Nations and international fairness and justice.”

It may not be the last of Mr Kim’s major global summits of the year, with Donald Trump having said earlier this week he fancies another meeting with the North Korean.

The pair had an unprecedented meeting during the US president’s first term, and he’s suggested they could reunite later this year.

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Technology

Microsoft fires two employees over breaking into its president’s office

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Microsoft fires two employees over breaking into its president’s office

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators hold banners and signs as they protest outside the Microsoft Build conference at the Seattle Convention Center in Seattle, Washington on May 19, 2025.

Jason Redmond | Afp | Getty Images

Microsoft on Thursday said that it had terminated two employees who broke into President Brad Smith’s office earlier this week.

The news comes after seven current and former Microsoft employees on Tuesday held a protest in the company’s building in Redmond, Washington, in opposition to the Israeli military’s alleged use of the company’s software as part of its invasion of Gaza.

The protesters, affiliated with the group No Azure for Apartheid, gained entry into Smith’s office and had demanded that Microsoft end its direct and indirect support to Israel.

In a post on Instagram, No Azure for Apartheid said Riki Fameli and Anna Hattle had been fired by the company.

“Two employees were terminated today following serious breaches of company policies and our code of conduct,” a Microsoft spokesperson said in a statement, noting unlawful break-ins at the executive offices.

“These incidents are inconsistent with the expectations we maintain for our employees. The company is continuing to investigate and is cooperating fully with law enforcement regarding these matters,” the statement added.

In the aftermath of the protests, Smith claimed that the protestors had blocked people out of the office, planted listening devices in the form of phones, and refused to leave until they were removed by police. 

No Azure For Apartheid defines itself as “a movement of Microsoft workers demanding that Microsoft end its direct and indirect complicity in Israeli apartheid and genocide.”

The Guardian earlier this month reported that the Israeli military had used Microsoft’s Azure cloud infrastructure to store the phone calls of Palestinians, leading the company to authorize a third-party investigation into whether its technology has been used in surveillance.

Smith said on Tuesday that the company would “investigate and get to the truth” of how services are being used. 

According to Smith, No Azure For Apartheid also mounted protests around the company’s campus last week, leading to 20 arrests in one day, with 16 having never worked at Microsoft. 

No Azure for Apartheid has held a series of actions this year, including at Microsoft’s Build developer conference and at a celebration of the company’s 50th anniversary. Bloomberg reported on Tuesday that a Microsoft director had reached out to the Federal Bureau of Investigation regarding the protests.

Microsoft’s actions come after tech giant Google fired 28 employees last year following a series of protests against labor conditions and the company’s contract with the Israeli government and military for cloud computing and artificial intelligence services. In that case, some employees had gained access to the office of Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google’s cloud unit.

— CNBC’s Jordan Novet contributed to this report. 

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