Under President Donald Trump‘s leadership, the United States has withdrawn from international negotiations and commitments, particularly around climate. But the U.S. is very much involved in treaty talks for a global accord to end plastic pollution.
Nations kicked off a meeting Tuesday in Geneva to try to complete a landmark treaty over 10 days to end the spiraling plastic pollution crisis. The biggest issue is whether the treaty should impose caps on producing new plastic, or focus instead on things like better design, recycling and reuse. About 3,700 people are taking part in the talks, representing 184 countries and more than 600 organizations.
Here is a look the U.S. position:
Why is the US participating in the negotiations?
Hours after he was sworn in to a second term, Trump pulled the U.S. out of the landmark Paris agreement to combat global warming. The United States didn’t participate in a vote in April at the International Maritime Organization that created a fee for greenhouse gases emitted by ships, or send anyone to the U.N. Ocean Conference in June.
Some wondered whether the United States would even go to Geneva.
The State Department told The Associated Press that engaging in the negotiations is critical to protect U.S. interests and businesses, and an agreement could advance U.S. security by protecting natural resources from plastic pollution, promote prosperity and enhance safety.
The industry contributes more than $500 billion to the economy annually and employs about 1 million people in the U.S., according to the Plastics Industry Association.
This is a historic opportunity to set a global approach for reducing plastic pollution through cost-effective and common-sense solutions and fostering innovation from the private sector, not unilaterally stopping the use of plastic, the department said in an email.
What does the US want in the treaty?
The State Department supports provisions to improve waste collection and management, improve product design and drive recycling, reuse and other efforts to cut the plastic dumped into the environment.
The International Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development estimates that 22 million tons of plastic waste will leak into the environment this year. That could increase to 30 million tons annually by 2040 if nothing changes.
The OECD said if the treaty focuses only on improving waste management and does nothing on production and demand, an estimated 13.5 million tons of plastic waste would still leak into the environment each year.
What does the US not want in the treaty?
The United States and other powerful oil and gas nations oppose cutting plastic production.
Most plastic is made from fossil fuels. Even if production grows only slightly, greenhouse gas emissions emitted from the process would more than double by 2050, according to research from the federal Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
The U.S. does not support global production caps since plastics play a critical role throughout every sector of every economy, nor does it support bans on certain plastic products or chemical additives to them because there is not a universal approach to reducing plastic pollution, the State Department said.
Thats similar to the views of the plastics industry, which says that a production cap could have unintended consequences, such as raising the cost of plastics, and that chemicals are best regulated elsewhere.
What has the US done in Geneva so far?
On the first day of the negotiations, the United States proposed striking language in the objective of the agreement about addressing the full life cycle of plastics. That idea was part of the original mandate for a treaty. Getting rid of it could effectively end any effort to control plastic supply or production.
Under former President Joe Biden’s administration, the U.S. supported the treaty addressing supply and production.
What are people saying about the US position?
Industry leaders praised it and environmentalists panned it.
Chris Jahn, president and CEO of the American Chemistry Council, said the Trump administration is trying to get an agreement that protects each nation’s rights while advancing effective and practical solutions to end plastic waste in the environment. He said his group supports that approach.
Graham Forbes, head of the Greenpeace delegation in Geneva, said the United States wants a weak agreement and is undermining the idea that the world needs strong international regulations to address a global problem.
Does the US think the world can agree on a treaty that will end plastic pollution?
The United States aims to finalize text for a global agreement on plastic pollution that all countries, including major producers of plastics and plastic products, and consumers, will support, the State Department said in its statement.
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The Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find APs standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
Jennifer McDermott, Associated Press
Ever since Shane Devon Tamura entered the Midtown Manhattan office building housing the NFLs headquarters with a high-powered rifle, killing four people on July 28, John Orloffs phone has been ringing more than usual.
I hate the fact that my phone . . . rings after a tragic event, Orloff says. Its not the first time its happened. An operations leader at security risk consulting group Jensen Hughes, Orloff heard the same ringing after Luigi Mangione allegedly shot and killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December. In December, [companies] were saying, How do we protect our executives? Orloff says. Today, it’s, How do we protect our most important resource . . . our people?
Fast Company spoke to Orloff and other experts to understand how office building safety works.
Safety begins with design
The office security landscape constantly evolves based on the latest attack. Over the last decade corporate clients concerns have shifted from terrorist and bomb threats in the mid-1990s and 2000s (fueled by attacks like the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing and September 11), to events like mass shootings.
Safety design experts say that preventative techniques work best. Threat mitigation should begin with the building design process, says Peggy Phillips, who leads engineering consulting firm Thornton Tomasettis Protective Design and Security practice. Thats when you can control key aspects like entry points. Architects can balance the number of entrances with [convenience], Phillips says. Too many entrances require numerous guards to secure thema significant business expensewhile too few can create bottlenecks during both regular workdays and emergencies.
One approach for avoiding prison-like safety features, like fences and bars, is known as Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design, when designers use the natural environment to promote safety . . . through creating spaces where crimes dont happen, Phillips says. Abundant perimeter windows facilitate what she calls natural surveillance, while landscaping around a building can avoid offering hiding places to bad actors by not including, say, high hedges spaced about a persons length away from a building wall. Its like the difference between walking through a park [thats] well-lit [without] a lot of brush, Phillips says, and one thats overgrown, not well-maintained.
Strategic Access
Then theres prevention at the lobby level, which looks different depending on whether an office building houses one tenant, multiple enterprises, or publicly accessible retail clients on its ground floor. It’s all about, how do we make sure that the people who are intended to access the building can [do so, and] have their identity verified, says Phillips.
Dedicated elevator banks with access to different floors can limit workers and visitors movements. Badge readers can allow a tenant on the third floor, for instance, to swipe at a certain turnstile and reach an elevator that only leads to that floor. Dual authentication can further shore up these systems by having employees, after they swipe in, enter a specific pin number, or use biometrics to get through an entryway. A man trap, Orloff adds (when one perimeter door leads to an open space followed by a second, interior door opened only through specific credentials), lets security monitor visitors between the two doors before authorizing their entranceand trap them somewhere secure if they lack the necessary qualifications.
Essentially invisible to someone untrained in building security, this measure also makes an office building more comfortable for the people who work there. Companies don’t want their workspace to look like Fort Knox, Orloff says.
Layers of Security
Our clients talk about mitigation of hazards and threats, says Phillips. You’re not making [office buildings] criminal proof, because there’s such variability in these events. Instead, her firm focuses on layers of security, so if a threat bypasses one, they have another waiting to stop them.
For example, beyond considering access points, technology, like security cameras, should also factor into an office layouts initial planning. But in addition to putting cameras in enough places to avoid blind spots, companies must incorporate them effectively into processes involving the people who monitor their feeds.
Security cameras are a great thing to have, but they’re typically evidentiary in nature, meaning they’re post-event, says Orloff, who points out the widely viewed image of Tamura approaching the Manhattan office building where he let fire with rifle in hand. However, if they’re watched by someone in real time, they can be much more preventative. For example, if someone monitoring an office buildings camera feeds sees a threat, they can recall the buildings elevators to a mid-floor location, Orloff says, where nobody can get up or down.
His company advises corporations to train their employees on security awareness, so they know what to do in an emergency. Orloff also suggests companies partner with local law enforcement, who can then learn about their office buildings layouts.
Continuous monitoring
No matter how much work architects and security designers put into an office buildings safety, every layered system has vulnerabilities that a determined attacker can overcome, says Orloff. The Manhattan office where Tamura killed four people had state-of-the-art security: an off-duty police officer accompanied security guards presiding over long check-in processes, locked turnstiles, alarms, elevators with access to limited floors, and even safe rooms, reported CNN.
Orloff noted he couldnt comment specifically on what happened in the Midtown Manhattan building where the shooting occurred. However, he pointed out as a general best practice in the event of an incident the first thing that a building should look to do is lock down the perimeter . . . making it so that only authorized employees, guests, visitors and vendors can get in that front door.
Companies should also stay abreast of what their own activities might mean for their employees and executives security. Everything a company does impacts its risk level, Orloff says, including a negative news article, a financial report, or the latest buzz about the CEO. That also applies to updates from other companies sharing your office buildingsecurity working at a low-profile company sharing a complex with a high-profile enterprise could benefit from staying on top of the latters news.
That may sound like a lot of work, but Orloff warns corporations not to under-value investing in solid building security. I prefer my phone stop ringing, he says, in the aftermath of tragic events. I’d much prefer to have my clients adopting [a] preventative approach.
Beyond that, the problem may just come down to whos allowed to possess firearms and where theyre able to bring them.
Instagrams new location-sharing Map feature is raising privacy concerns among some users, who worry their whereabouts could be tracked or misused.
Meta announced the rollout this week, introducing a map that lets U.S. users share their locations and see location-based content from friendssimilar to Snapchats Snap Map or Apples Find My.
This feature is opt-in and off by default. Users also have the option to turn off location sharing “at any time,” Meta said in a release. Heres how to do it.
Accessing the Map feature
Open the Instagram app and tap the arrow icon in the top right of your home feed to open Messages. The Map option should appear at the top of your inbox.
The first time you open Map, youll see a screen labeled Who can see your location. You can choose to share it with:
Friends (followers you follow back)
Your Close Friends list
Selected users
No one
Updating your settings
To update your preferences, navigate to your profile, tap the settings icon in the top-right corner, select Story, live and location, then choose Location sharing. From there, you can adjust who sees your location.
On the Map, different icons indicate your status:
A blue arrow means you’re sharing your location with your selected audience.
A red dot indicates you’re not sharing your location.
An orange triangle means you need to enable location permissions on your device to share your location.
How to turn off location services entirely
To shut off location services for Instagram on an iPhone, open Settings and tap through from Privacy & Security to Location Services. Scroll to Instagram and select Never.
To turn off location services for Instagram on an Android device, open your phones settings and scroll to Apps. Select Instagram, then tap Permissions and choose Location. From here, you can select Dont allow to completely block location access, or opt for Allow only while using the app or Ask every time for more control. (You can also toggle off precise location if you prefer.)
Even with location sharing off, you can still see friends who share their location with you. If you enable it, your location updates whenever you open the app or return to it from the background, Meta says.
For teen users
Parents with supervision enabled can control whether their child has access to location sharing, see who theyre sharing with, and receive notifications if location sharing is turned on.
Well, Joe, I did it. I applied to all the jobs.
That is exactly how Sam opened our conversation. It made me laugh out loud, in spite of myself.
Let me set this up real quick.
Sam is a former vice president of product who came up through the project management ranks. Shes been out of work since being laid off at the end of last year, so about five full months now.
Sam is different. Shes not like you and me. Shes kind of a machine. Shes never been a developer, but she knows all the connective tissue between a developers brain and a successful production applicationincluding infrastructure, security, Agile and Scrum, QA, and every flavor of every process that brings good code to paying customers.
Sam will tell you that shes not an idea gal. She executes. With extreme prejudice.
I tell you all this to tell you that when Sam loses her job or wants another job, she immediately pulls out every stop, in an optimized and efficient manner, never for a hot second taking her eyes off the goal of getting Sams butt into a new seat.
Yeah. She went third person there.
Last week, to her surprise, Sam realized that in her six months of relentless execution, she had applied to all the jobs she was remotely qualified for. Every single one. There was nothing left to do. No job description she hadnt combed through, no company she hadnt researched and reached out to, no networking spoke left unbugged.
So she called me and invited me out for coffee.
Hyperbole aside, Sam has applied for hundreds of positions, maybe over 500, she says. She has been through dozens of screens and definitely more than 50 interview loops.
If theres a war for jobs underway right now, this is what Sam has learned from her stint on the front lines.
The ATS-Friendly Résumé Thing Is Bullshit
Her words. But I tend to agree.
Sam got on the ATS-friendly résumé train right away, because the company that let her go had been leaning into AI résumé screening for about a year, and she had a friend helping with the tech in the HR department.
It took a month before I realized that I was just throwing darts,” she said. “Then I thought about all the talks I’d had with [my HR tech friend] and it hit me that theres no single ATS-friendly format, and everyone is probably doing the screening differently.
The responses she was getting were from companies she didnt really want to work for anyway, usually for low-paying, low-culture jobs. Further, the next step after contact was almost always a series of vibe check interviews. Most of the time, these resulted in fun conversations with young HR reps followed by a brief rejection note a week later.
I felt like I was wasting my time and I needed to get out of that loop, she said. So I took a risk and just redid my résumé to speak directly to the person I would want to hire me.
That, she said, resulted in better initial contact.
There Is Nothing in the Middle
Sam immediately decided to apply for everything she could. She has almost 20 years of experience, so she applied to everything from midlevel jobs that required five years of experience all the way to the executive-level jobs that would serve as her logical next career move.
Fifteen years is the max theyll put into the JD, she laughed. What does that tell you?
Each time, she tweaked her résumé and application so as not to scare anyone off. I didnt lie. I was just selective about what I said.
What she noticed is that there were a lot of just above entry level jobsin other words, people who were already broken in but still cheap. And there were a fair number of director and up positions, less hands-on stuff.
They dont say youll need to be out there selling for those executive jobs, but they imply it pretty heavily, she said.
I take this to mean that there is a lot less emphasis on management. And in my own research, Ive also found this to be the case. Youve got labor, and youve got sales, and everything else is AI-driven.
And by the way . . .
AI Jobs Are as Dumb as You Think They Are
At first, Sam admits, I wasnt applying for AI jobs because I dont have the tech experience there, but after reading some of the requirements I said [WTF], I can use ChatGPT, and I applied for a couple and got responses.
Turns out, no one really knows what an AI job is, beyond the PhD-level math and machine learning that drive the AI platforms themselves. According to Sam, almost everything thats not that is just hiring managers who want to make sure that you can use ChatGPT to pretty stuff up, you know, documentation and presentations.
I am shocked that I didnt assume that.
Salaries Are Coming Down
This one sucks.
She said, I swearI didnt keep notes or anything on itbut, six months ago, salaries at my level were mostly $250,000 to $300,000, and now they are definitely in the $180,000 to $220,000 range, give or take.
It makes sense. A combination of continued economic uncertainty on one side of the hiring table and growing desperation on the other side. Something had to give.
You Need to Be Ex-BigCo
Ive touched on this in previous posts, and Sam confirms what Ive already been told.
It comes up. A lot, she said.
Many years ago, Sam spent some time at a multibillion-dollar big-name tech company. Now she was getting frustrated when interviewers would inevitably ask her about that position first.
I did a stint, she said. I didnt change the world or anything. Im really proud of what I did at my last job, but they were under $50 million and falling, so . . .
Money Men (and Women) Are Pulling the Strings
Theres a lot more oversight into org structure and hiring in general coming from investors and boards who traditionally dont play as much of a role in the company makeup below the C-suite.
This is something I asked Sam about, and her eyes lighted up.
Yes! she said. Ive had . . . three loops that went great, and right before the offer I got set up with some rando or a private equity guy and then whammo. Is that a thing?
Yeah. She said whammo. And, yeah, thats a thing. I know this because Ive been the rando. Ive been asked to vet executives multiple times this year by those very venture capitalists and private equity guys.
Theres No Confidence
Sam and I had a long and winding conversation, and Ive tried to put this in a format with a single cohesive thread. If I had to pick, that thread would be no confidence.
From a lack of confidence in résumé screening to a lack of confidence in how to put people to work to a lack of confidence in what kind of talent is needed to even a lack of confidence in executives making sound fiscal hiring decisions.
No one knows whats really going on or how to make it better.
And thus, according to Sam, this malaise has spread to every corner of the job market. Outside of a few lucky breaks or local connections, theres no good way to get from point A to point B, with point B being putting a butt in a seat.
And then one morning last week, I went to my laptop and there was nothing to do,” she said. “It took me some time to figure it out, but every job board, all my networking tracking, everything. I was up to date. It made me a little scared.
A few days later, Sam did text me to tell me that new jobs were coming in and chatter had picked up across her network. In my mind, this is a wave, and a necessary one, as companies continue to figure out what isnt working, and then try to figure out what will.
Or, at least, thats what my optimistic side says.
If youre interested in more stories from the front lines of tech and innovation, please join my email list and well commiserate and speculate together.
By Joe Procopio
This article originally appeared in Fast Companys sister publication, Inc.
Inc. is the voice of the American entrepreneur. We inspire, inform, and document the most fascinating people in business: the risk-takers, the innovators, and the ultra-driven go-getters that represent the most dynamic force in the American economy.
There are times when the best way to learn something about urbanism is to embrace sheer ignorance.
The more a planner knows about zoning, the more careful they become about zoning reform. The more an engineer knows about intersection design, the more timid they become about innovative intersection design. Its human nature to mentally codify something as you become more familiar with it: Its always been done this way, so it must be right.
The Citizen Kane Case Study
Applied ignorance has been a theme in my career, so Im always happy to hear about others who experienced some form of success by similar means. Im a sucker for behind-the-scenes stories about my favorite movies, screenwriters, and directors. Legendary film critic Roger Ebert used to say Citizen Kane was the greatest film of all time and there could be no competitor. Hundreds of polls and articles have been published over the years sharing Eberts opinion. The storytelling techniques, emotional soundtrack, and the morally complex characters transformed the way future writers and directors approached filmmaking.
This was director Orson Welles debut film, and he was only 24 years old when he was crafting the masterpiece. He sat for an interview with the BBC Monitor when he was 44, and heres one of many insightful segments.
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Welles: I didnt want money. I wanted authority. And after a year of negotiations, I got it. My love for films began only when we started work.
BBC: What Id like to know is where did you get the confidence to
Welles: Ignorance. Sheer ignorance. You know, theres no confidence to equal it. Its only when you know something about a profession, I think, that youre timid or careful.
BBC: How does ignorance show itself?
Welles: I thought you could do anything with a camera that the eye could do, or the imagination could do. And if you come up from the bottom in the film business, youre taught all the things that the cameraman doesnt want to attempt for fear he will be criticized for having failed. In this case I had a cameraman who didnt care if he was criticized if he failed, and I didnt know that there were things you couldnt do. So anything I could think up in my dreams I attempted to photograph.
BBC: You got away with enormous technical advancements, didnt you.
Welles: Simply by not knowing that they were impossible. Or theoretically impossible.
Questioning the status quo
Im no Orson Welles, but Im great at asking dumb questions about topics that I have no expertise in. Sometimes it leads to learning about an important reason the status quo does what it does, and sometimes the discovery is that the status quo is practicing pseudoscience.
Asking big Why and What If questions is so unusual in professional planning and engineering, because these are industries with established processes and structure. Some things just arent supposed to be challenged. Heres a starter pack of sample questions you might bring up with your local decision-makers:
Land planning:
Residential lot size. What are the trade-offs when regulations require a minimum property size for homes?
Single-stair code. Considering single-stair building has been almost universally outlawed in the U.S., why is there a push among architects to legalize them?
Building setbacks. How is walkability impacted by forcing buildings to be a certain distance away from the street?
Single-use zoning. How does banning mixed-use neighborhoods affect car dependency?
Units per parcel. Are there economic benefits by allowing property owners to build multiple housing units on their land?
Transportation engineering:
Car lane width. Is there any research on the safety impacts of 10 vs. 12foot lanes?
Signal timing. Is there any benefit to giving pedestrians a head start before the green light?
Roundabout diameter. Are there case studies about smaller roundabouts being safer?
Street light type. Are there case studies about highway-scale lighting vs. pedestrian-scale?
Geometric design. What are the trade-offs when the design speed is higher than the operating speed?
Practice some applied ignorance in your urbanism projects or advocacy. Humbly ask questions knowing you dont know what you dont know. The worst thing that happens is you learn something new about a topic. The best thing that happens is you spark a conversation that leads to a policy or infrastructure improvement.
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A big increase in the tax on university endowments is adding to financial uncertainty for the wealthiest colleges in the U.S., leading several already to lay off staff or implement hiring freezes.Spending more endowment money on taxes could also lead colleges to reduce financial aid, cutting off access to elite institutions for lower-income students, colleges and industry experts have warned. President Donald Trump signed the tax increase into law last month as part of his signature spending bill.The new tax rates take effect in 2026, but colleges such as Harvard, Yale and Stanford already are citing the tax as one of many reasons for making cuts across their universities. Each will be on the hook to pay hundreds of millions more in taxes, while also navigating reductions in research grants and other threats to funding by the Trump administration.A tax on college endowments was introduced during Trump’s first administration, collecting 1.4% of wealthy universities’ investment earnings. The law signed by Trump last month creates a new tiered system that taxes the richest schools at the highest rates.The new tax will charge an 8% rate at schools with $2 million or more in assets for each enrolled student. Schools with $750,000 to $2 million will be charged 4%, and schools with $500,000 to $750,000 will continue to be charged the 1.4% rate.The tax applies only to private colleges and universities with at least 3,000 students, up from the previous cutoff of 500 students.“The tax now will really solely apply to private research universities,” said Steven Bloom, assistant vice president of government relations for the American Council on Education. “It’s going to mean that these schools are going to have to spend more money under the tax, taking it away from what they primarily use their endowment assets for financial aid.”
This small group of wealthy colleges faces a tax increase
The law will increase the endowment tax for about a dozen universities, according to an Associated Press analysis of data from the National Association of College and University Business Officers.Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Princeton and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are expected to pay the 8% rate next year. The schools facing the 4% rate include Notre Dame, Dartmouth College, Rice University, University of Pennsylvania, Washington University in St. Louis and Vanderbilt University.Some universities are on the edge of the law’s parameters. Both Duke and Emory, for instance, were shy of the $750,000-per-student endowment threshold based on last fiscal year.Endowments are made up of donations to the college, which are invested to maintain the money over time. Colleges often spend about 5% of their investment earnings every year to put toward their budgets. Much of it goes toward scholarships for students, along with costs such as research or endowed faculty positions.Despite the colleges’ wealth, the tax will drastically impact their budgets, said Phillip Levine, an economist and professor at Wellesley College.“They’re looking for savings wherever possible,” Levine said, which could impact financial aid. “One of the most important things they do with their endowment is lower the cost of education for lower- and middle-income students. The institutions paying the highest tax are also the ones charging these students the least amount of money to attend.”For example, at Rice University in Houston, officials anticipate the college will need to pay $6.4 million more in taxes. That equates to more than 100 student financial aid packages, the university said, but Rice officials will explore all other options to avoid cutting that support.
How colleges are adjusting to financial pressures
In the meantime, some universities are going forward with staff cuts.Yale University says it will have to pay an estimated $280 million in total endowment taxes, citing the tax in a campus message implementing a hiring freeze. Stanford University announced plans to reduce its operating budget by $140 million this upcoming school year, which included 363 layoffs and an ongoing hiring freeze. The university spent months trying to determine where to reduce its budget, but said it would continue to support undergraduate financial aid and funding for Ph.D. students.Research universities are under increasing financial pressure from reductions in funding from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and other federal agencies.No university knows this pressure better than Harvard, the country’s wealthiest college. Its $53 billion endowment puts it at the top of the list for the new tax, but it’s also seeing massive portions of research funding under threat in its ongoing battle with the White House.The federal government has frozen $2.6 billion in Harvard’s research grants in connection with civil rights investigations focused on antisemitism and Harvard’s efforts to promote diversity on campus. But the impact of other administration policies on the university could approach $1 billion annually, Harvard said in a statement.“It’s not like Harvard is going to go from one of the best institutions in the world to just a mediocre institution. That’s probably not going to happen,” Levine said. “But that doesn’t mean it’s not going to be a bad thing that there won’t be pain and that students won’t suffer.”
Mumphrey reported from Phoenix. Associated Press writer Sharon Lurye in Philadelphia contributed to this report.
The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
Cheyanne Mumphrey, AP Education Writer
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During the Pandemic Housing Boom, from summer 2020 to spring 2022, the number of active homes for sale in most housing markets plummeted as homebuyer demand quickly absorbed almost everything that came up for sale and sellers had ultimate power.
Fast-forward to the current housing market, and the places where active inventory has rebounded to 2019 levels (due to strained affordability suppressing buyer demand) are now the very places where homebuyers have gained the most power.
At the end of July 2025, national active housing inventory for sale was still -11% below June 2019 levels. However, more and more regional markets are surpassing that threshold.
This list is growing:
January 2025: 41 of the 200 largest metro area housing markets were back above pre-pandemic 2019 inventory levels.
February 2025: 44 of the 200 largest metro area housing markets were back above pre-pandemic 2019 inventory levels.
March 2025: 58 of the 200 largest metro area housing markets were back above pre-pandemic 2019 inventory levels.
April 2025: 69 of the 200 largest metro area housing markets were back above pre-pandemic 2019 inventory levels.
May 2025: 75 of these 200 major markets were back above pre-pandemic 2019 inventory levels.
June: 78 of these 200 major markets were back above pre-pandemic 2019 inventory levels.
Now, at the latest reading for the end of July 2025, 80 of the 200 markets are above pre-pandemic 2019 inventory levels and ResiClub expects that count will continue to rise this year.
[Chart: ResiClub]
Among these 80 markets, youll find lots in Sun Belt markets like Florida, Texas, Arizona, and Colorado.
Many of the softest housing markets, where homebuyers have gained leverage, are located in Gulf Coast and Mountain West regions. Some of these areas were among the nations top pandemic boomtowns, having experienced significant home price growth during the pandemic housing boom, which stretched housing fundamentals far beyond local income levels.
When pandemic-fueled domestic migration slowed and mortgage rates spiked, markets like Cape Coral, Florida, and San Antonio, Texas, faced challenges as they had to rely on local incomes to sustain frothy home prices. The housing market softening in these areas was further accelerated by the abundance of new home supply in the pipeline across the Sun Belt.
Builders in these regions are often willing to reduce net effective prices or make other affordability adjustments to maintain sales. These adjustments in the new construction market also create a cooling effect on the resale market, as some buyers who might have opted for an existing home shift their focus to new homes where deals are still available.
In contrast, many Northeast and Midwest markets were less reliant on pandemic migration and have less new home construction in progress. With lower exposure to that demand shock, active inventory in these Midwest and Northeast regions has remained relatively tight, keeping the advantage in the hands of home sellers.
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Generally speaking, housing markets where inventory (i.e., active listings) has returned to pre-pandemic levels have experienced softer/weaker home price growth (or outright declines) over the past 36 months. Conversely, housing markets where inventory remains far below pre-pandemic levels have, generally speaking, experienced more resilient home price growth over the past 36 months.
ResiClub PRO members can find our latest inventory analysis for +800 metros, +3,000 counties, and +25,000 ZIP Codes here, and our latest analysis showing why the 2019 inventory comparison remains insightful here.
Oil prices edged higher on Friday but were poised for the steepest weekly losses since late June on a tariff-hit economic outlook and a potential meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
Brent crude futures were up 52 cents, or 0.78%, at $66.95 a barrel by 1104 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 43 cents, or 0.67%, to $64.31.
Brent was on track to be down 3.9% over the week while WTI was set to finish 4.5% lower than last Friday’s close.
Higher U.S. tariffs against a host of trade partners went into effect on Thursday, raising concern over economic activity and demand for crude oil, ANZ Bank analysts said in a note.
The latest tariffs arrive against a backdrop of an already weaker than expected U.S. labour market and Thursday’s announcement by the Kremlin that Putin and Trump would meet in the coming days as trade tensions rise between the U.S. and Russia’s oil customers.
Trump this week threatened to increase tariffs on India if it kept buying Russian oil, which the market viewed as putting further pressure on Russia to reach a deal with the U.S., said independent analyst Tina Teng.
Trump also said China, the largest buyer of Russian crude, could be hit with tariffs similar to those levied against Indian imports.
The potential meeting raises expectations of a diplomatic end to the war in Ukraine, which could lead to eased sanctions on Russia, with Russian stocks rallying after the news.
“There could be a meeting between Trump and Putin in the near future, which could indicate that Trump is adopting a wait-and-see approach with regard to further sanctions against Russia and its allies,” Commerzbank analysts said in a note.
However, some analysts remain cautious.
“The Russian leader is expected to insist on having his territorial demands granted, a hard sell for the invaded country, while his U.S. counterpart will push for a ceasefire,” said PVM analyst Tamas Varga.
“No breakthrough is anticipated, and the U.S. following through on its threat to impose secondary sanctions on those dealing in Russian energy including China and India remains a possibility.”
Robert Harvey, Reuters
The WNBA is still struggling with a string of sex-toy disturbances.In the past week and a half, sex toys have been thrown on court during games in Atlanta on July 29, Chicago on Aug. 1, Los Angeles on Aug. 5 and Chicago again on Thursday night, with the most recent object hitting the court in the closing seconds of the Atlanta Dream’s victory over the Sky.The sex toy that landed on the court in Los Angeles nearly hit Fever guard Sophie Cunningham during Indiana’s game against the Sparks. Sex toys were also thrown at games in New York and Phoenix last Tuesday but didn’t reach the court. Police say another toy was thrown at a game in Atlanta on Aug. 1, although it’s unclear if that one reached the court.The distractions have created unexpected challenges for the league, the teams and the players, but also for arena security. Here’s what to know.
Are arrests being made?
A man was arrested Saturday in College Park, Georgia, after he was accused of throwing a sex toy onto the court during the Atlanta Dream’s July 29 matchup with the Golden State Valkyries, according to a police report. The report said he threw another sex toy during the Dream’s Aug. 1 game against the Phoenix Mercury, but that instance did not seem to result in a delay of play.He is charged with disorderly conduct, criminal trespassing, public indecency and indecent exposure. All four charges are misdemeanors in the state of Georgia, meaning that if he is convicted, the punishment for each can be a fine of up to $1,000 or jail time of up to 12 months. A misdemeanor for public indecency and indecent exposure may also require registration on the state’s sex offender list.The report said the man told police “this was supposed to be a joke and the joke (was) supposed to go viral.”Another man in Phoenix was arrested after police say he threw a sex toy in the crowd at a Mercury game on Tuesday. Police say the 18-year-old pulled the sex toy from his sweater pocket and threw it toward seats in front of him, striking a spectator in the back.The man later told police it was a prank that had been trending on social media and that he bought the toy a day earlier to take to the game. He was later tackled by a volunteer at the arena who had witnessed the incident and began following him as the man tried to leave the arena.Police say the man was arrested on suspicion of assault, disorderly conduct and publicly displaying explicit sexual material.The New York Liberty told The Associated Press on Thursday night that there is an ongoing investigation into the throwing in New York and the team is cooperating with law enforcement.
What difficulties do arena security face in stopping this?
The types of sex toys being thrown onto the court generally do not include metal elements, meaning that arena metal detectors are not able to sense them. When carried on a spectator’s body, they become even more difficult to detect.Arena security teams face challenges in catching these items, according to Ty Richmond, the president of the event services division at Allied Universal Security, a company that provides security services to certain NBA, WNBA, NFL, MLB and MLS arenas across the country.“Not all stadiums are using a screening process that’s consistent and can detect (the sex toys) because of what it would require pat down searches, opening the bags, prohibiting bags,” he said. “The conflict of expediency, of getting fans into the arena and into the venue, which is an important issue, and security and safety.”The limits of arena security make legal action one of the strongest deterrents for this kind of behavior, Richmond said.“The decision to prosecute and show examples of how people are being handled is very important,” he said. “Without a doubt, I think it will make a difference. The application of it is important, and publicizing that is important.”There have not been any arrests made yet for the in Los Angeles and Chicago. In a statement to the AP, the Sparks said they are “working with arena personnel to identify the individual responsible and ensure appropriate action is taken.”The WNBA has said that any spectators throwing objects onto the court will face a minimum one-year ban and prosecution from law enforcement.
How is it affecting players?
As the disturbances pile up, those on the court have become increasingly frustrated.“Everyone is trying to make sure the W is not a joke and it’s taken seriously, and then that happens,” Cunningham said on her podcast after nearly being hit by one of the sex toys on Tuesday. “I’m like, ‘How are we ever going to get taken seriously?'”No other professional sports leagues have faced sex toy disturbances like this. It has started a conversation online about the perpetrators’ choices to throw them during games in a women’s league and a league with a high-profile amount of lesbian and queer players.“This has been going on for centuries, the sexualization of women. This is the latest version of that. It’s not funny. It should not be the butt of jokes,” said Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve Thursday. “The sexualization of women is what’s used to hold women down, and this is no different.”Despite the criminal behavior leading to arrests, at least one crypto-based predictions market is offering trades essentially allowing users to wager on whether sex toys will be thrown at future WNBA games.Players have also been sounding off on social media, echoing concerns about arena security protocols.Liberty forward Isabelle Harrison posted on X last week, saying “ARENA SECURITY?! Hello??! Please do better. It’s not funny. Never was funny. Throwing ANYTHING on the court is so dangerous.”
AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/wnba
Alyce Brown, AP Sports Writer
