Orange Namu

Have you been waiting for home prices to fall — or just for the housing market to move at all? Neither happened in October. U.S. existing-home sales fell to a 3.75 million annual pace, the slowest since August 2010 — yet the median price still rose 0.4% to $416,700. That split is the whole story of the 2027 housing outlook: sales are frozen, prices are flat, and four forces are pushing in each direction. Here is what each side has going for it, what the major forecasters actually expect, and what a median-priced home costs month to month at today's rates. Figures in this post are current as of November 14, 2026. Where housing stands right now: the freeze in five numbers October gave us the clearest picture yet: demand has collapsed, and supply has not followed it down. Sales: 3.75 million annual pace. Down 5.5% from September and 8.8% from a year ago — the lowest since August 2010, according to the National Association of Realtors' report released November 12. Price: $416,700 ...

Your neighbor's solar panels went up in 2025 and cut their bill in half. You waited — and now the 30% federal tax credit is gone. Is the deal still worth signing in 2026? Yes, for many homeowners — but the margin is thinner, and your electricity rate now decides the answer, not the tax code. What Actually Ended on December 31, 2025 The 30% Residential Clean Energy Credit (Section 25D) ended for any system whose installation was completed after December 31, 2025. The credit was originally scheduled to run at 30% through 2032. Instead, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (Public Law 119-21), signed July 4, 2025, terminated it for expenditures made after December 31, 2025. The date that matters is the completion date, not the date you signed or paid. The IRS treats a Section 25D expenditure as made when the original installation is completed — so a system signed for in October 2025 but finished in February 2026 does not qualify (IRS, FS-2025-05, August 21, 2025). Systems completed in...

Is the U.S. dollar going to collapse — or is that just the scariest headline of the month? The short answer: no. The dollar hit 103 in November, its highest since April — while gold, the classic "dollar is dying" trade, has fallen 27% from its January record. The real story is slower and less dramatic: the dollar is losing share, not collapsing. Figures in this post are current as of November 12, 2026. This post pairs with yesterday's overview, Are We Headed for Another Great Depression? , which covers what a 1930s-style downturn would do to jobs, houses, and pensions. Here is what "collapse" would actually mean, what the reserve numbers say, and what it means for your money. "Collapse" Means Three Different Things Most collapse predictions blur three different events together. Separating them is the whole argument. 1. A weaker exchange rate The dollar falls against other currencies. This happens regularly — and it happened this year. The...

Are we headed for another Great Depression — or is this just the scariest headline of the month? The short answer: the market is priced for perfection, and it is more expensive than it was in 1929 — but the economy underneath it is still growing, and the safety nets that did not exist in 1929 exist now. That split is the whole story. This post opens a series on the depression question: over the next week, each angle gets its own numbers — the national debt, the 1929 market crash, household budgets, retirement savings, emergency funds, mortgages, and crypto. Here is the overview: what the 1930s actually did, the cycle that turns calm markets fragile, five warning signs, three reasons it might not happen, and the steps that help whether a depression comes or not. Figures are current as of November 12, 2026. What a Depression Actually Did: the 1930s in Numbers A depression is not a bad year in the stock market. It is a collapse in output, jobs, and prices that lasts for years. The Gr...

Have you ever wondered why the same solar panel can be a bargain in one state and a bad deal in another — or why a wind farm can wait five years just to plug into the grid? The difference is rarely the technology. It is the policy around it: the tax credits, the queue to connect to the grid, the rules your state and utility set, and the tariffs at the border. Yesterday's post looked at the five signals that will decide how fast the transition moves in 2027. This one looks at the levers behind those signals: which policies speed the transition up, which ones slow it down, and what to check before you make a decision that depends on them. Figures in this post are current as of November 11, 2026. 1. The fastest lever: money that lowers the price A tax credit does not change the technology. It changes the math — and when the credit has a deadline, it changes the calendar too. The biggest policy change of the last two years is the rollback of federal clean-energy tax credits. The ...

Is the energy transition speeding up or stalling in 2027? Both — at the same time. Clean power is being built faster than ever, but getting that power to homes and businesses is now the bottleneck. The International Energy Agency's newest report, Renewables 2026 , published November 6, makes the split clear. The world will add almost 4,800 gigawatts of renewable capacity between 2026 and 2031 — about 60% more than in the previous six years. In the same report, the queue of advanced-stage projects waiting for a grid connection jumped 60% in a single year. Figures in this post are current as of November 10, 2026. The five signals below are how to tell which side is winning — and what each one means for your electricity bill and for the timing of big household decisions like rooftop solar or an electric car. 1. Renewables pass coal — and, in the U.S., natural gas 2026 is the year renewables become the world's largest source of electricity, overtaking coal. The IEA's Elec...