Morning Report: U.S. home prices post first annual decline in over a decade

The U.S. housing market posted the first year-over-year decline in home prices since 2012. The decline is the result of higher mortgage rates. Real estate brokerage firm, Redfin showed that the median U.S. home sale price fell 1.2% from the previous year in February.

Meanwhile, nearly 200 banks are at risk of collapse. A new study, published on the Social Science Research Network, found that even insured depositors (those with $250,000 or less in the bank) are at risk. If their banks experience the sort of run Silicon Valley Bank saw last week, customers could have issues withdrawing their money.

Fear surrounding banks remains in focus on Wall Street. The DOW closed out the week lower, but the S&P 500and NASDAQ were positive.

Nationwide, undergraduate college enrollment dropped 8% from 2019 to 2022. According to data from the National Student Clearinghouse, declines continued despite a return to in-person classes. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the slide in enrollment, beginning in 2018, is the steepest on record. Fewer college graduates could worsen existing labor shortages in fields from health care and information technology, says the Georgetown University’s Center on Education and Workforce.

The Department of Transportation released its on-time ranking for U.S. airlines. In first place was Delta Airlines with an on time rate of 77%. Delta was followed by American Airlines, and United airlines. Frontier Airlines had the lowest in-time arrival rate at 57%. Up next were Allegiant Air and Hawaiian Airlines. Southwest Airlines had the highest rate of cancellation with staggering 15%. The massive system meltdown in December contributed.