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Want more housing market stories from Lance Lamberts ResiClub in your inbox? Subscribe to the ResiClub newsletter. Zillow economists have an economic model called the Zillow Market Heat Index, designed to assess the competitiveness of housing markets nationwide. This model evaluates factors like home price fluctuations, inventory levels, days on market, and buyer demand to produce a score that indicates whether a market is hot (benefiting sellers) or cool (benefiting buyers). A higher score indicates a hotter metro-level housing market where sellers have more power. A lower score indicates a colder metro-level housing market where buyers have more power. According to Zillow, a score of 70 or above indicates a “strong sellers market,” and a score from 55 to 69 is a “sellers market.” A score from 44 to 55 would be a “neutral market.” Finally, a score from 28 to 44 indicates a “buyers market,” while 27 or below is a “strong buyers market.” !function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";r.style.height=d}}}))}(); Nationally, Zillow rates the U.S. housing market at 54 in its February 2025 reading, published in March 2025, which suggests a “neutral market.” Among the 250 largest metro area housing markets, these are the 10 hottest markets, where sellers have the most power: Rochester, NY: 169 Buffalo, NY: 113 San Jose, CA: 112 San Francisco, CA: 105 Syracuse, NY: 99 Hartford, CT: 95 Ann Arbor, MI: 90 Boston, MA: 89 Bridgeport, CT: 89 Seattle, WA: 86 And these are the 10 coldest markets, where buyers have the most power: Jackson, TN: 9 Gulfport, MS: 18 Macon, GA: 23 Daphne, AL: 25 Brownsville, TX: 26 Beaumont, TX: 26 Longview, TX: 26 Naples, FL: 28 Punta Gorda, FL: 30 Panama City, FL: 30 Directionally, I believe Zillow has correctly identified many regional housing markets where buyers have gained the most powerparticularly around the Gulfas well as markets where sellers have maintained (relatively speaking) somewhat of a grip, including large portions of the Northeast and Midwest. Based on my personal housing analysis, I consider Southwest Florida the weakest/softest chunk of the U.S. housing market, followed by Texas markets around Austin and San Antonio. What did this Zillow analysis look like back in spring 2022 at the climax of the pandemic housing boom? Below is Zillows February 2022 readingpublished in March 2022.
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E-Commerce
Every year, millions of Muslims take part in observing Ramadan: a spiritual month dedicated to cleansing the soul and spirit, hallmarked by the practice of fasting. This means that for 30 days, from sunrise to sunset, practitioners abstain from eating food and drinking water, only breaking their fast once the sun disappears in their respective geolocationa time that shifts up or down depending on the season. Yep, not even water. As someone who observes Ramadan, every year I am both amused and baffled by the awkwardness that surrounds the month in the workplace. Inquiries about what fasting entails are far and few, whether out of fear of disrespect, uncertainty, or just plain avoidance. This means not being able to understand the physical and mental tolls that your fellow colleagues who are fasting might be experiencing. @byefarzy Its inevitable ima forget happens every year #fyp #ramadan #muslim original sound – Farzy So, for the uninitiated, here are a few things about Ramadan that businesses can learn, as well as how they can support those observing, especially in these last few days. Lets start from the beginning Ramadan is a holy month in the Islamic calendar. The ninth month in the lunar cycle, it revolves around fasting, spirituality, prayers, giving to charityall part of the five pillars of Islam. After 30 days of fasting, the month culminates in a celebrationa holiday called Eid-al-Fitr that is so filled with food and sweets, one would think youre making up for lost time! In a 2024 Mojo Supermarket report, the agency comments on how in spite of over 4 million practicing Muslims in America, the absence of Ramadan brand marketing is astonishing. In fact, Party City was the first mainstream party supply store to carry Ramadan decoronly seven years ago! You can imagine the utter disappointment folks felt upon learning that the store was going out of business. How could the United States, the Mecca (no pun intended) of capitalism, have missed the mark so badly? Weve got dollars burning in our pockets, begging to be spent. Throw us a bone herea paper lantern or plastic mugs shoddily printed with Ramadan Mubarak will suffice. How to make your work environment Ramadan-friendly Because your fasting colleagues are waking up an hour before sunrise for suhoor the period of time to eat and drink for the dayit often leads to a disruption in sleep cycles. Apart from general knowledge, the awareness that aspects of fasting can impact cognitive abilitiesfatigue, dehydration, inability focuscan enable teammates to cultivate a working environment that sets up them up to do their best work. Where possible, try to avoid scheduling late-afternoon meetings, a period in which low energy is often most visible. If youre a manager, allowing your direct reports to rearrange working hourssuch as starting the day earlier, or ending early and resuming after breaking fastis an excellent way to accommodate colleagues whose brains may be sluggish by late day, as well as giving them time to prepare for Iftar (time time to break fast.) If there is space in the office, curating an area for prayers, which usually take only minutes, is another thoughtful way to acknowledge the month. If your office is remote or hybrid, consider extending additional remote days for fasting colleagues. How some companies are recognizing Ramadan this year Some organizations are doing the most when it comes to inventing creative ways to honor their fasting colleagues and commemorate the montha particularly meaningful feat given the state of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts in the United States right now. Shaina Zafar, director, Next Gen at UTA, says the company has made a concerted effort to increase awareness around not only what Ramadan means symbolically and spiritually but also centered it around an ethos of community-building and cultural collaboration across interfaith communities. “Ramadan is a time for meaningful reflection and recentering for the billions of Muslims who observe,” says Zafar. “We see a fundamental re-imagination of our entire routines for these 30 days, and considering the impact this has on Muslims in the workplaceas they sometimes break their fast during work hoursit requires companies to intentionally engage with tangible resources and thoughtful support for employees observing Ramadan.” UTA hosted its second company Iftar in New York this year, according to Zafar, in addition to creating a Ramadan workplace inclusion guide. It also hosted a conversation on Muslim representation in the media, followed by Iftar in its Los Angeles office. At marketing company HubSpot, a challenge called Can you Last a Ramadan Fast was presented to employees. Its great to see HubSpot colleagues embracing cultural understanding through the global Ramadan fasting challenge,” says Naimun Siraj, a senior software engineer at HubSpot. “This gives an opportunity for employees to gain insight into an important part of Islam, and fosters genuine empathy and builds community through shared experience.” At Duolingo, Aliza Haider, director, immigration and global mobility, says the language-learning company is committed to nurturing an inclusive and supportive environment for “Duos” during Ramadan. We begin with reminders and best practices for our role managers, such as avoiding team lunches or food-related events during fasting periods,” says Haider. “This strategy promotes flexible working hours and cultivates a considerate physical environment. Our Workplace Team further supports our Duos by providing convenient meal boxes for pre-fast and post-fast times, allowing them to observe their traditions with ease and comfort.
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E-Commerce
A recent group chat between high-ranking Trump officials may not exactly have been secure, but its place in internet culture certainly is. The fiasco known as Signalgate introduced what may already be the most infamous group chat in American history, inspiring a flood of memes across all social media realms and unveiling a string of patriotic emoji that now holds a permanent smirking perch in the public lexicon. According to an eye-popping story from The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg, an account attributed to National Security Advisor Mike Waltz invited Goldberg to join a chat called “Houthi PC small group” on encrypted messaging app Signal earlier this month. There, boldfaced names including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Vice President JD Vance discussed plans to bomb Houthis in Yemen. Although dubious at first, Goldberg realized the chat was authentic when those plans were later confirmed by reality. After Goldberg published his scorching account of Signalgate on Monday, the internet erupted in speculation. Ironically, group chats across the country were likely consumed with it. The National Security Council quickly confirmed that the messages seemed authentic. Their statement to the press included a meager defense of those involved: “The thread is a demonstration of the deep and thoughtful policy coordination between senior officials. Of course, many social media dwellers thought the thread demonstrated something else: elite memeability. @bmotheprince The USA National Security Group Chat original sound – Brian Moller | B Mo the Prince Me in the security chat quickly emerged on X and Bluesky, alternately to describe how one might look while reading texts about bombing plans, or how out-of-place one might feel being awkwardly included in such texts. Some memes focused on other unexpected parties being added to the Houthi PC small group and which further unexpected secrets might be revealed there, while others centered around not being invited to that chat or not being able to leave it. pic.twitter.com/8izx8RWivq— Pekka Kallioniemi (@P_Kallioniemi) March 25, 2025 There have been reenactments, historical and otherwise. The Daily Shows version, which they rolled out on Instagram, even cross-pollinated the group chat format with another recent political memethe weird JD Vance photoshops. Beyond a vast assortment of joke formats, though, something else evolved out of Signalgate: the most surreal, extremely online usage of emoji ever captured in a national security setting. Goldbergs article came with the closest thing to receipts the journalist could produce without further jeopardizing national securityselected screenshots. In one of them, Waltz is revealed celebrating the successful bombing campaign with the following emoji: a punching fist, an American flag, and a classic flame. (The trio of symbols does not yet have a collective name, but for the duration of this article, I will refer to it as Team America, a nod to the South Park creators 2004 satire of macho jingoism, best known for the earworm America, F*ck Yeah!) Within hours of Goldbergs bombshell dropping, use of the Team America emoji fanned out across X, Bluesky, Reddit, Tiktok, and Instagram. I told an intern his work was good and he just replied ???— PE Croissants (@sscoutcap) March 25, 2025 Some used it to mock the ice-cold detachment required for using triumphant emoji to mark the macabre occasion of a strike that killed at least 53 people. Others jumped right into ironically embracing Team America in faux displays of patriotic fervor. Taylor Swift fans deployed it the way Swifties do pretty much everything: with the inclusion of Taylor Swift lyrics. One popular use for Team America emoji that quickly emerged on Monday was in calling out the group chats hypocrisy. As CNN has documented extensively, several of the people involvedincluding Hegseth, Waltz, and Secrtary of State Marco Rubiopreviously called for Hillary Clinton to receive criminal charges over her much-litigated alleged security lapses. (Clinton herself reacted to the news by tweeting: You have got to be kidding me.) Several X users took to quote-tweeting old Waltz tweets on related topics with the Team America emoji configuration. Even the Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs Committee got into the action, along with Gen Z congressperson Maxwell Alejandro Frost. Tweeting apparently wasnt enough for Florida rep Jared Moskowitz, who held up a Team America emoji sign at a House Judiciary Committee meeting on Tuesday morning. While memes about the security group chat are currently in abundance, both in volume and breadth, the Team America emoji seems headed for a much longer shelf life. Its the textual equivalent of a semi-ironic high-five, with undertones of mischievous mockery. Based on the amount of mileage its already gotten in just one day, it seems poised to break meme containment and become a go-to affirmative response in random text messages and a staple of Jumbotrons everywhere. In fact, the only thing that might stop its spread is if MAGA world reclaims it as a symbol of pride and starts putting it on hats, which is what will probably happen.
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E-Commerce
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