Hiring softens, unemployment rate unchanged in May. Employers added 75,000 jobs last month, maintaining a historically low unemployment rate of 3.6 percent. Downward revisions to March and April’s figures offset June’s gains, taking the average number of new hires to 164,000 per month in 2019. Last year, a monthly average of 223,000 jobs were created.

Housing outlook rises as mortgage rates fall. Existing home sales fell for the second consecutive month in April, as the higher mortgage rates weighed on demand and the limited supply of available homes left entry-level buyers with few options. Though the housing market has had its challenges, builder sentiment is improving, leading to a moderate rise in permit issuance and housing starts.

Fox Business’s Maria Bartiromo asks Marcus & Millichap CEO Hessam Nadji for insight on the state of the U.S. housing market and commercial real estate.  

Yahoo! Finance Features Marcus & Millichap’s President and CEO Hessam Nadji. With mortgage rates down, should home sales be up?

Trade talks with China break down; protectionist policies accelerating. Following over a year of discussion with China, trade talks broke down, prompting the White House to raise tariffs to 25 percent on $200 billion of Chinese imports. The recent escalation represents the latest developments in trade talks that have been ongoing for over a year. Notable tariffs are currently in place covering steel and aluminum, as well as washing machines and solar panels. However, the… Read More

Slight pickup in construction unlikely to alter demand dynamics. Amid steady job growth in the New York City economy, the apartment market is booming as single-family homes remain unreachable for most residents. Following the cyclical peak in multifamily construction in 2017, development has steadily declined, prompting incredibly tight vacancy rates metro-wide. All boroughs, with the exception of Manhattan, maintain vacancy rates below 2 percent, which has begun to sponsor tremendous growth in the average effective… Read More

Improved employment growth supporting historically low joblessness. Employers added 236,000 positions in April, bringing the year’s total job creation to 820,000, which is on par with previous years in this cycle. Expanded hiring activity compared with March drove the unemployment rate down to 3.6 percent, its lowest level in nearly 50 years.

CNBC Features Marcus & Millichap’s President and CEO Hessam Nadji. Apartments Shine Amid Trade War Uncertainty

Retail sales showing consistency as year progresses. Softened consumer confidence in March had little impact on spending as core retail sales advanced 3.6 percent year over year. A second consecutive month of moderate yet steady growth can be traced to the healthy job market, rising income levels and increasing spending power. Though overall consumption grew at a stable pace, sales growth was concentrated in a few areas, including e-commerce.

Investors coming off another robust year of investment sales activity appear to be adopting a more conservative outlook, but sentiment levels point to an active 2019.