Americans bought homes last month at the fastest pace in nearly eleven years. According to the National Association of Realtors, sales of existing homes climbed 5.6% in November. They reached a seasonally adjusted annual rate of almost six million units.
The last time home sales were this strong was in December of 2006, when properties sold at an annual pace of 6.4 million. Some of the factors that are driving this boom are the strengthening economy and rise of millennials getting into the housing market.
In other real estate news, the average size of the American home is getting bigger. According to real estate company Zillow, 44% of baby boomers live in houses larger than 2,000 square feet.
As the last members of the baby-boom generation become empty nesters, demand is growing for dual-purpose homes. Boomers are looking to remodel so that their homes comfortably fit a couple, but can also accommodate children and grandchildren when they visit for extended periods.
Oracle soars as it cashes in on the AI boom, Plus: Starbucks shares continue to fall under its new CEO, and does anybody actually want a new iPhone Air?
Swedish buy now, pay later company Klarna is making its highly anticipated public debut on the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday, the latest in a run of high-profile initial public offerings this year. The offering priced at $40 Tuesday, above the forecasted range of $35 to $37 a share, valuing the company at more than $15 billion. The valuation easily makes Klarna one of the biggest IPOs so far in 2025, which has been one of the busier years for companies going public. Other popular IPOs so far this year include the design software company Figma and Circle Internet Group, which issues the USDC stablecoin..
Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison wrested the title of the world’s richest man from longtime holder Elon Musk early Wednesday as stock in his software giant rocketed more than a third in a stunning few minutes of trading. That is according to wealth tracker Bloomberg. A college dropout, the 81-year-old Ellison is now worth $393 billion, Bloomberg says, several billion more than Musk, who had been the world’s richest for four years. The switch in the ranking came after a blockbuster earnings report from Oracle. Forbes still has Musk as the richest, however, valuing his private businesses much higher.
