10 million people, or about 18% of renters, in America were behind in their rent payments to start the new year. (CNBC)

A new analysis from Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, and Jim Parrott, a fellow at the Urban Institute, shows the typical delinquent renter now owes $5,600, being nearly four months behind on their monthly payment. This also includes utilities and late fees. In total, an astounding $57.3 billion is owed. This includes all delinquent renters, not just those suffering financially due to the Covid pandemic.

The total number of loans now in forbearance increased slightly from the prior week according to the latest Forbearance and Call Volume Survey.

Loans in forbearance increased slightly one basis point to 5.38%. Currently, 2.7 million homeowners are now in forbearance plans.

• INITIAL STAGE: 18.17% of total loans in forbearance are in the initial forbearance plan stage

• EXTENSION: 79.31% of total loans are in a forbearance extension

Mike Fratantoni, MBA’s Senior Vice President and Chief Economist, said in a statement, “The latest housing market data show strong momentum entering 2021, with both the pace of home sales and new construction booming. We expect that this strong market could benefit homeowners who need to sell their home, as record-low inventory is causing for-sale homes to go under contract quickly and is pushing up home prices.”

The unemployment rate was unchanged in December at 6.7%. This is an increase from the start of the year when the rate was 3.5%. Obviously, things are worse than a year ago, but Eugene Ludwig writes at POLITICO that it’s actually worse than you think. Ludwig argues that the unemployment rate isn’t just an undercount, it actually paints an alternate reality… (POLITICO)

First, there’s no accounting for how many hours a part-time worker is working. By the BLS’ traditional definition, a handyman or private nurse who works for a single afternoon each week is counted in the headline national unemployment figure as “employed,” even if they want more work but can’t find it…Second, the data doesn’t indicate whether the job a worker is doing pays enough to keep them out of poverty. The assumption implicit in the data is that if you’re “employed,” all should be well, but as the growing movement toward raising the minimum wage attests, it’s increasingly clear that many American workers are employed, often full-time, but still living in poverty.

No stock is having a better year than GameStop. The stock is up 247% this year and it has Reddit to thank. GameStop has become a money geyser for those that gather in Reddit’s WallStreetBets forum. (Bloomberg)

In their frenzy, WSB’s cocky hordes have managed to turn the tables in a game short sellers invented, spinning gold from the complacency of others. Before this year, GameStop was a cash register for bearish traders, who borrowed and sold more shares than the company issued. Hedge funds had been winning so long that they overlooked the tinderbox they were creating should sentiment turn.

Now it has, violently. GameStop, which isn’t expected to turn a profit before 2023, has seen its market value triple to $4.5 billion in three weeks, burning the skeptics whose any attempt to cover is likely to further propel its ascent.

You can’t stop the housing market, you can only hope to contain it! New data from Redfin shows that homebuyers are undeterred by declining listings.

New listings saw the largest decline since June with a 10% drop from a year earlier.

• This didn’t stop homebuyers because pending home sales were up 32% year over year.

• 40% of homes that went under contract had an accepted offer within the first two weeks on the market.

Thanks to all-time low levels of inventory the median home sale price increased 15% year over year to $318,750

Redfin chief economist Daryl Fairweather said in a statement, “Even with prices soaring and the number of homes for sale at an all time low, homebuyers are moving as quickly as they can to buy every home that comes on the market”

So it looks 2021 is picking up right where 2020 left off. It is a good time to be a seller.

Ohio Republican Rob Portman will not seek a third Senate term in 2022. Portman said that the legislative paralysis in the Senate was a major factor in his decision to retire at the end of next year. (POLITICO)

It has gotten harder and harder to break through the partisan gridlock and make progress on substantive policy, and that has contributed to my decision,