Fed lowers interest rates by half point in the first cut since 2020

Plus: Texas lead the way for homeowners living mortgage-free

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Today's newsletter is 594 words — a 2.5-minute read.

1. Mixed-use development Elyson Town Center coming to Katy in 2025

Realty 1 Partners have begun construction of Elyson Town Center, located at the intersection of Freeman Road and the Grand Parkway.

The project will feature 11 buildings with 190,000 SF of retail, 47 apartments, and office space. Four buildings will have retail on the ground floor and 11-12 apartment units on the second. One building will include an office space on the second floor, while the rest will be one-story retail structures.

The first stores are set to open in late spring 2025. LINK

2. Fed lowers interest rates by half point in the first cut since 2020

The Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate by half a percentage point on Wednesday and indicated that more cuts are likely. This marks the first time the Fed has lowered rates since the pandemic.

  • The central bank’s first rate cut in over four years brings the federal funds rate down to a range of 4.75% to 5%.

This significant half-point reduction suggests the Fed is acting early to prevent a slowdown in the US economy and job market after keeping rates at their highest level since 2001. LINK

“The US economy is in a good place and our decision today is designed to keep it there. This recalibration of our policy stance will help maintain the strength of the economy and the labour market and will continue to enable further progress on inflation as we begin the process of moving towards a more neutral stance.”

Jerome Powell, Chair of the Federal Reserve of the United States

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3. Catch up quick

💸 El Paso, Texas among the 10 best cities to buy an affordable home in 2024. (Forbes)

📈 Existing home sales improve by 0.5% from July to August. (FirstAmerican)

🐝 How approximately 48,000 bees were removed from a Houston garage. (Video)

🏘️ Plans for the huge River Park project in East Austin evolving to meet the market demands. (Yahoo)

🥇 Christine Jacobson, formerly of NextHome, heads to Realtor.com (HousingWire)

🐈 Fun read: A rare critter, a Ringtail cat, was caught on camera at Palo Duro Canyon State Park. (CHRON)

4. TDECU & Space City Credit Union to merge, create a new brand

TDECU (Texas Dow Employees Credit Union), Houston's largest credit union, announced plans to merge with Houston-based Space City Credit Union and rebrand as Space City Financial in the Houston market in 2025.

According to details of the proposed merger, Texas-based TDECU's CEO, Isaac Johnson, will lead the new organization and Space City CEO Craig Rohden will retire after leading the Houston-based credit union for 30 years.

If approved by regulators, the newly merged credit union will have assets approaching $5 billion and nearly 400,000 members.

5. More homeowners are living mortgage-free, with Texas leading the way

39.8% of owner-occupied housing units are now mortgage-free, up from 38.5% in 2022 marking a new high.

The portion of homeowners with no mortgage has ticked up almost every year since 2010, when it was 32.1%.

Among the 200 largest U.S. metros by population, here are the top 5 highest percentages of mortgage-free homeowners: VIDEO

  • Brownsville, TX: 62.9%

  • McAllen, TX: 61.7%

  • Beaumont, TX: 54.8%

  • Ocala, TX: 52.4%

  • Lake Charles, LA: 51.9%

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