*as of 5/27; Sources: S&P, BTC, FTSE, DJRE, GOLD

The U.S. housing market saw price declines in March as the market has slowly shifted into a buyer’s market. The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index showed a 0.3% decline and FHFA House Price Index showed a 0.1% monthly decline, the first negative reading since August 2022. The Case-Shiller Index increased by 3.4% year-over-year, down from the 4% annual rate seen in February, while the FHFA Index showed a 4% year-over-year increase, the lowest for this time period in more than a decade.

➨ TAKEAWAY: These price declines have been expected as housing supply grows and buying demand falls with mortgage rates remaining high. It’s somewhat surprising that it’s taken this long to get here, as rates started rising more than three years ago. Investors should be on the lookout for good deals now, but keep in mind that prices could keep falling. Redfin now projects that housing prices will decline further the rest of the year, and year-over-year prices will hit a negative number for the first time since 2012.

Partner

Secure Yield from Legal Outcomes

Fenchurch Legal offers litigation funding as a fixed-income alternative, providing security, stability, and returns uncorrelated with traditional markets.

Over $59M has been originated across 15,000+ loans. 

Investors receive quarterly interest and a fixed return at maturity.

Ready to invest in justice? Steady income, real impact—now that’s worth investing in.

LEARN MORE

In this episode of Smart Humans, Slava Rubin talks with Milk Road's co-owner Kyle Reidhead about the crypto space, the importance of stablecoins, and his predictions for the market.

(Bloomberg)

Global private equity fundraising fell to $116 billion in Q1, a 35% year-over-year decline from Q1 2024. This came even in the midst of a rebound in exit activity, which did cut the median time it took funds to raise capital. Meanwhile, secondaries strategies raised $52 billion, nearly half of the entire 2024 total.

➨ TAKEAWAY: The industry as a whole is still struggling to return capital to investors, creating a liquidity crunch that is stunting fundraising. This has led to growing demand for secondaries strategies that could potentially snap up PE shares at a discount. New York City’s pension fund just sold $5 billion worth of PE holdings to Blackstone, one of the largest secondaries transactions ever. A number of other major institutional investors, including universities such as Harvard and Yale, have also explored selling their PE stakes on the secondaries market.

📊 Consumer confidence bounces back: After dipping to a five-year low in April, consumer confidence had its biggest monthly gain in four years in May as the tariff deal between the U.S. and China lowered the threat of a long-term trade war.

🚀 Healthtech Q1 funding: VC funding to healthtech startups rose by 30.4% in Q1, with six deals of more than $100 million and five newly minted unicorns capping the sector’s strong quarter.

🎨 Napoleon auction: Around 100 pieces of Napoleon-related memorabilia is up for auction next month at Sotheby’s, including one of his trademark bicorne hats, estimated to sell for more than $500,000.

🤖 Engine AI raise: The Chinese humanoid robotics startup is seeking a $140 million fundraising round at a valuation of $1 billion, as it seeks to build robots for household use, not just those that can do a frontflip.

💵 Another State Street ETF: Even as its first private credit ETF has struggled to attract investor demand, the fund giant has filed for another private credit ETF in partnership with Apollo Global Management.

💎 Marie Antoinette’s diamond: A 10-carat pink diamond believed to have once belonged to the doomed French queen Marie Antoinette is coming to the auction block next month at Christie’s with an estimated $3-5 million price tag.

The native token of the decentralized exchange Hyperliquid had the biggest price gain of the last week of any cryptocurrency in the top-100 by market cap. Hyperliquid runs its exchange on its own Layer-1 blockchain and has quickly become the leading DeFi exchange for perpetual trading - a type futures contract with no expiration date. Holders of the token get reduced trading fees, and as trading volume on the platform has increased to all-time highs, the price of the token has risen dramatically. The price also popped after the company submitted feedback to the U.S. CFTC surrounding potential regulation of perpetual swaps and 24/7 crypto trading.