Show Me The Houses — I think it’s safe to say that in general, people need some sort of shelter. Much of the globe rely on structures commonly known as “houses” for this shelter, but based on the rate at which U.S. builders are constructing new homes, I don’t think they’re at all familiar with the concept.

Exhibit A: Last month, U.S. housing stats dropped much more than expected (because obviously), falling 4.1% from December levels to an annual rate of 1.638M homes. That being said, December data was revised upward slightly, making the relative change a tad more extreme, and last month’s figure still represents an increase of 0.8% compared to January 2021.

So that’s good, right? Nature is healing? Wrong. While January's figures certainly aren’t terrible, they’re not what first-time homebuyers need. With rising mortgage rates and home prices just about at an all-time high, incentives are certainly not in line with buyers’ interests.

The simple fact is that mortgage rates will increase. If you’re looking for a home, don’t blame me, please direct your complaints to JPow and the FOMC. But home prices, however, have some room for improvement. Following the GFC and meltdown of the housing market from 2007-2009, homebuilders have been radically discouraged from building out of fear for a GFC round 2.

But now, consumer balance sheets are about as healthy as they get, we have a massive demographic shift from millennials stepping into their homebuying years, and we simply do not have enough homes.

Without a drastic increase in construction, home prices will remain elevated for a long time to come. Plus, one thing that’s not at all easing prices for homes or commercial properties is a great-looking yard. We can blame Graze for that, because the firm’s electric commercial mower is a nonstop-beautification machine.

Google Pulls an Apple — Well, not really… but kinda. Now that you’re adequately confused, let’s talk about Google’s privacy upgrades. Like Apple last year, Google has apparently decided that they too do not want their mobile operating system (Android) users to be a farm for Mark Zuckerberg to harvest all of their hard-earned data. Thanks, guys!

But… unlike Apple, Google’s privacy changes stop short of the goal line. The search firm “promised not to be disruptive” to the ability of developers to monetize their apps through advertising. Basically, Google is seeking to meet the interest of two parties: users and developers by increasing privacy but not by too much.

So, Android will soon employ “privacy-focused replacements” for its current tool used to identify a user’s device, the advertising ID. Further, the firm plans to eliminate cross-app tracking as well, but not to the same extent Apple did in 2021. While these improvements aren’t ideal from a consumer privacy protection lens, any improvement is better than nothing.

Android OS powers about 85% of all smartphones globally, so if you think Apple’s changes disrupted the market (i.e., Meta losing $240bn in market cap in a single day), just wait.

Addressing Labor Shortages in a $100B Industry