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Marketplace

A "starter" home for $1 million?

23 Jun 2026

Transcription

Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.

Chapter 1: Why are starter homes now priced at $1 million?

2.478 - 29.245 Kyle Risdahl

On All of It with me, Alison Stewart, we'll talk about art, music, theater, literature, history, food, well, all of it. Hear in-depth, insightful interviews with authors like Zadie Smith, musicians like Steve Earle, actors like Kate Winslet, and beyond. You never know who you'll hear next on All of It, but it's always worth listening. That's All of It, available wherever you get your podcasts.

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30.575 - 58.455 Professor Devi Sridhar

I'm Shannon Maldonado, the founder of Jaui, a gift shop that sells handmade artisanal products. I chose Shopify because when I tested the tools, I found them to be one of the easiest to use tools. It was important for me to consider our development in the future. All tools needed for sales, such as storage design, are handy on the dashboard. Start your free trial at shopify.com.

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60.983 - 97.745 Kyle Risdahl

The big economic picture is good. Sometimes the tighter view is good, too. So we'll do both. From American Public Media, this is Marketplace. In Los Angeles, I'm Kyle Risdell. It is Tuesday. Today, this one is the 23rd of June. Good as it always is to have you along, everybody. We're going to go macro and micro in our approach to the economic news of the day today, global and local, if you will.

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98.106 - 120.605 Kyle Risdahl

We learned this morning, courtesy of S&P Global's Purchasing Managers Index, that's PMI in the vernacular, that growth in both services and manufacturing in this economy picked up in June. Take a look around at other major developed economies, though, and it is a whole different ballgame. In the Eurozone overall, business activity contracted for the third straight month, albeit just slightly.

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121.426 - 135.422 Kyle Risdahl

Also, though, some of Europe's biggest economies were some of the weakest. Germany's PMI had a one and a half year low. France clawed its way back from a bit more than a two year low. So Marketplace's Mitchell Hartman explains the good news and the bad news.

135.993 - 140.759 Mitchell Hartman

It seems like we've got another demonstration here of U.S. economic exceptionalism.

141.239 - 151.112 Dr. Eswar Prasad

Yet again, the United States continues to post pretty robust growth amid all the global turbulence and uncertainty.

151.672 - 155.677 Mitchell Hartman

Ishwar Prasad teaches economics and trade policy at Cornell.

156.018 - 158.821 Dr. Eswar Prasad

For the rest of the world, it's not this pretty a picture.

Chapter 2: How has housing inflation affected first-time homebuyers?

461.973 - 469.423 Kyle Risdahl

Let's talk then about you as the little business owner. First of all, as I always do, how is business at the Honeysaw there in Borough Market?

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469.443 - 488.197 Sam Wallace

Do you know what? It is pretty good. I really cannot complain. But again, you know, you're always nervous about the future. You're always worried that the good thing won't last. We had a good Q1, I have to say, a good Q1, given that there was already You know, quite a lot of kind of turmoil and there's cost of living crisis still going on in the background.

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489.078 - 497.372 Sam Wallace

But Q2 at the moment, I have to say, is very up and down, which is exciting if I put it that way.

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500.056 - 503.922 Kyle Risdahl

Exciting is an interesting choice. Why is Q2 up and down?

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504.29 - 525.092 Sam Wallace

I'm not sure. Other than to say, I think, so global events, obviously, with events in Iran, it's cost of fuel and travel. We have a lot of European visitors. So, you know, if you're a family from, say, Barcelona, I don't know if it's even feasible economically anymore to come to London. London's already an expensive city to be in. It has always been thus.

525.293 - 544.084 Sam Wallace

But, you know, with the current kind of exchange rates and with the cost of travel, the cost of staying places and being in places, And so I think that and then I think more locally here in the UK, we've got all of that going on. But then we have this political turmoil with the Prime Minister and the governing party and

544.486 - 552.778 Sam Wallace

and the way forward for the country, which I think makes people very nervous. You know, it just makes people not want to necessarily spend money.

554.039 - 576.549 Kyle Risdahl

Can we talk for a second about the actual product that you sell? You have been, for most of the time I've been talking to you, wildflower honey, a lot of it from Europe. And Brexit obviously was a huge wrench in those works. Here we are 10 years on. You've adapted somewhat, but, you know, we're... How much of a crimp in your style is it still?

577.47 - 598.91 Sam Wallace

Oh, it's I mean, it's the costs are pretty hefty. I mean, I think if we're going back 10 years ago and of course, all costs rise over time, you know, transports are what we pay to freight across Europe. These pallets of honey, you know, used to cost us something like I think it was one hundred and ninety pounds prior to Brexit. And that was it. And you just needed an invoice.

Chapter 3: What factors are driving Americans to suburban starter homes?

851.043 - 858.617 Joel Berner

We bought a small starter home and we're feeling like we're going to be there longer than we intended just because of the way the market works right now.

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858.766 - 864.033 Michelle Evermore

He says the market needs more smaller starter homes, but it also just needs more homes, period.

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864.434 - 872.204 Joel Berner

And so even for the people who might leave a starter home, they don't have a lot of options themselves. So it's kind of this backup, this traffic jam.

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872.685 - 880.656 Michelle Evermore

Berner says according to Realtor.com's estimate, the U.S. is short about 4 million homes. I'm Kristen Schwab for Marketplace.

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901.308 - 927.724 Kyle Risdahl

Coming up. We paid just over $100,000 for it in 1983. Wait until you hear the rate on that mortgage, though, gang. First, though, let's do the numbers. Well, this one's the wall was for the Nasdaq. Hold on to your hats. The Nasdaq down 579 points today, two and two tenths percent, 25,585. The Dow slipped 45 points, about a tenth percent, 51,666.

927.984 - 951.683 Kyle Risdahl

S&P 500 down 107 points, one and four tenths percent, 73 and 65. Carnival reported earnings today beating estimates, but full year guidance was disappointing. Thus, Carnival drooped four and nine tenths of one percent on the day. Royal Caribbean or Royal Caribbean? I don't know. Take your pick. Leads the category, by the way, by market capitalization up less than one tenth of one percent.

951.663 - 968.777 Kyle Risdahl

Happy birthday to Reddit, the site which bills itself as the front page of the Internet, founded on this day in 2005. Reddit is, according to the data insights company SimilarWeb, it is the sixth most visited website globally, publicly traded as of 2024, down 2.8% on the day. You're listening to Marketplace.

972.385 - 986.221 Michelle Evermore

Hey, everyone. I'm Rima Grace, host of the Marketplace podcast. This is Uncomfortable. We all have that one financial task we're putting off. Maybe it's a bill you need to dispute, some paperwork you got to submit, an account you've been neglecting.

Chapter 4: What does recent manufacturing data reveal about the economy?

986.762 - 1004.526 Michelle Evermore

Personally, I've got a pretty long list. You know, studies show that it's much easier to get things done if you do them alongside someone else. So on July 1st, that is what we're going to do. I'm hosting a virtual co-working event where we all show up with at least one financial task we've been avoiding and spend an hour finally dealing with it together.

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1005.167 - 1014.137 Michelle Evermore

So please bring the thing you've been putting off. I'll bring mine and we'll see you on July 1st. You can sign up for the virtual event at marketplace.org slash TIU.

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1022.825 - 1048.191 Kyle Risdahl

This is Marketplace. I'm Kai Risdahl. We're going to do a little pop quiz on the way to this next story. What do the International Energy Agency, the original 55-mile-an-hour speed limit, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and fuel economy standards all have in common? I would give you a little bit more time, but the show's only half an hour, so I'm going to tell you the answer. Last chance here.

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1048.61 - 1069.681 Kyle Risdahl

is the 1973 Arab oil embargo. And one cannot help but imagine that that energy shock might have some lessons for today's. So we've called Meg Jacobs. She's a professor of history at Princeton. Also, as it happens, the author of Panic at the Pump. It's all about the oil crises of the 1970s. Professor Jacobs, welcome to the program. It's good to have you on. Nice to be here. Thank you.

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1069.861 - 1094.743 Kyle Risdahl

Do me a little compare and contrast here. Would you, with an eye toward economic power, 1973 versus today, oil, embargoes, Strait of Hormuz, all of that. It's a good comparison, 73, 26. 26 doesn't necessarily have the same ring yet, but it might because... Yet. I feel great now. Yeah, right.

1094.803 - 1120.436 Kyle Risdahl

It might because 1973, the moment of the Arab oil embargo, is remembered, and rightfully so, as this big turning point, certainly in American history and also in global economic history. And that's the moment... When Americans writ large discovered that they were not as powerful as they thought that they were.

1120.917 - 1136.482 Kyle Risdahl

And also, and you know, this is based on things you've said and said on this program, Kissinger, Nixon in 73 misjudged Arab economic power the same way it seems that President Trump is misjudging Iran today. I think that that's fair.

1136.542 - 1162.114 Kyle Risdahl

As late as September, and the embargo started in October, as late as September, Richard Nixon was on the record saying that the oil producers in the Middle East would never use the quote-unquote oil weapon because oil on the ground wasn't worth anything to them. And lo and behold, that's exactly what they did in an effort to reshape American politics in the region.

1162.432 - 1188.535 Kyle Risdahl

For those who don't remember 73, 74, 75 and the economic after effects and what it felt like in this country, what did it feel like when we as Americans discovered we didn't have all that economic power you were talking about? It came as a tremendous shock. I mean, you know, we were a very celebrated producer of oil. No country was more identified with the open road than the United States.

Chapter 5: How is the U.S. economy performing compared to global markets?

1252.724 - 1268.254 Kyle Risdahl

Well, I mean, you know, we learned that Iran is prepared to close down the strait. Something that I think the president did not necessarily anticipate, although he had been warned that that was one of the dangers.

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1269.155 - 1300.12 Kyle Risdahl

And what might not make, quote unquote, economic sense for various reasons, the Iranians determine makes political and military sense for them and possibly now even economic sense, too, as we see Trump reversing sanctions. The question of lessons to be learned, you know, you just said we're not very good at learning lessons. 73 is a long time ago. The main goal in the 1970s was independence.

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1300.2 - 1326.943 Kyle Risdahl

The United States should not be dependent on any foreign country for its oil. And even as we are independent, really, in terms of our oil, we are still vulnerable. So in terms of lessons learned or really not learned, The question is, why are we still so dependent on oil? And basically, until that changes, I think we're going to see this ongoing vulnerability. Meg Jacobs at Princeton.

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1327.364 - 1365.133 Kyle Risdahl

Professor Jacobs, thanks for your time, Em. I appreciate it. Thanks so much. 37 million people sounds like a lot. It is a lot in absolute terms. It works out to about 11% of the U.S. population. That's how many people, this is from the Census Bureau, by the way, moved in 2024. That, though, is a record low, down from 14% just a decade ago.

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1365.895 - 1385.963 Kyle Risdahl

There are lots of reasons for that, of course, many of which we cover on the regular here. High prices, high mortgage rates, low supply of housing among them. In the end, though... Home isn't just about where you move. It's also about where you stay. Here's this latest installment of our series, Adventures in Housing. My name is Lewis Chen. My name is Carol Jean Smith.

1386.203 - 1399.803 Kyle Risdahl

We live in Watertown, Massachusetts. In a house that we've lived in for 43 years. It's a two-family house with two units side by side.

1400.264 - 1410.463 Mitchell Hartman

I would say we looked at a lot of single-family houses out in the suburbs, and between the commute and the price, we just didn't find anything that we liked.

1410.916 - 1429.597 Kyle Risdahl

It doesn't look like any of the two family houses that you imagine because it was built on a little here and raised a little there and a little this thing was put on and that thing was put on. So it has a very irregular shape and it was not in very good condition. It was habitable when we moved in.

1429.797 - 1459.734 Kyle Risdahl

But at the same time, there were ceilings that were full of cracks and one of them completely fell down. We had a lot of that kind of thing that we had to deal with So yes, the income that we could gain by renting the other side was definitely a factor in making it affordable for us. We paid just over $100,000 for it in 1983. And it was a 30-year fixed mortgage at 12%.

Chapter 6: What lessons from the 1973 oil crisis are relevant today?

1557.205 - 1584.953 Kyle Risdahl

12% mortgage. Loie Chan and Carol Jean Smith in Watertown, Massachusetts for 43 years now. Whether you are looking for that forever home or maybe you're already living in it, share your story with us, would you? Marketplace.org slash Adventures in Housing. This final note on the way out today.

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1584.973 - 1594.306 Kyle Risdahl

Saw this on Axios, courtesy of our Friday regular, Courtney Brown, for which my personal choice of a headline would have been, Be careful what you wish for. You just might get it.

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1594.366 - 1618.795 Kyle Risdahl

New research from Stanford, the Bank of England, King's College London and the University of Nottingham estimates by the end of last year, Brexit had made the UK economy between six and eight percent smaller than it would have been had the remain side won. There is a lesson in there somewhere. Jordan Mangy, Zanil Maharaj, Janet Nguyen, Olga Oxman, and Virginia K. Smith are the digital team.

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1618.835 - 1650.025 Kyle Risdahl

I'm Kai Risdahl. We will see you tomorrow, everybody. This is APM. Start your day with Marketplace Morning Report and me, Kimberly Adams. In 10 minutes or less, I'll explain the day's economic news, why it matters and what it means for the way you live and work. Tune in each weekday morning for independent, award-winning journalism that brings clarity to the economy.

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1650.506 - 1653.953 Kyle Risdahl

Listen to Marketplace Morning Report on your favorite podcast app.

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