Can Anything Kick-Start the U.S. Housing Market?

WSJ What’s News

The Wall Street Journal

Daily News, News

4.1 • 4.2K Ratings

🗓️ 26 June 2026

⏱️ 16 minutes

🔗️ Recording | Apple Podcasts | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

A.M. Edition for June 26. California’s proposed billionaire’s tax heads to November's ballot, teeing up a fight among Democrats over wealth, affordability and the future of their party. Plus, a New York City board approves Mayor Mamdani's rent freeze. And WSJ real estate bureau chief Craig Karmin answers listener questions about the U.S. housing shortage in the final episode of our special series. Luke Vargas hosts. Listen to all episodes in our series on ideas for fixing the housing crisis. Sign up for the WSJ’s free What’s News newsletter.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Searching for a home, the real commute tool from Realtor.com,
0:03.5	lets you find homes right where you need to be.
0:05.9	Find a home 10 minutes from work, 15 from school, and 20 from grandmas.
0:10.3	With over half a million new listings every month,
0:12.7	you're just minutes from finding your perfect home on Realtor.com.
0:16.1	Trust the number one site Real Estate Professionals Trust.
0:19.0	Search now on Realtor.com.
0:20.6	Based on average
0:21.6	new for sale and rental listings July 24th through June 2025, number one trusted based
0:26.2	on August 2025 proprietary survey among real estate professionals. California's proposed
0:35.0	billionaires tax heads to November's ballot.
0:38.4	Plus, a New York City board approves Mayor Mom Donnie's rent-freeze.
0:42.9	And real estate editor Craig Carman closes out our housing series by answering your questions.
0:48.6	Like, unless mortgage rates go down, can anything kickstart home sales?
0:53.1	The only thing that I could really think of at the moment that would seem certain to bring
0:57.1	down mortgage rates would be a severe economic slowdown or recession.
1:01.5	It's Friday, June 26th.
1:03.1	I'm Luke Farquez for the Wall Street Journal, and here is the AM edition of What's News,
1:08.1	the top headlines and business stories moving your world today.
1:16.8	New York City's Rent Guidelines Board has delivered a win for Mayor Zohran-Mamdani,
1:22.6	approving a rent freeze for roughly a million of the city's rent-regulated apartments,
1:28.4	a signature promise of his election campaign. One member of the board, Christina Smith, resigned ahead of yesterday's
	...

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