British election surprise. Prime Minister Theresa May’s decision to call an early election in a bid to increase her party’s majority and strengthen her hand in Brexit negotiations backfired. Voters left her conservative Tories short of the 326 seats needed to win a majority in Britain’s 650-seat Parliament. That puts her party leadership in question and raises the possibility that talks for the U.K. to leave the EU a could be delayed. According to reports May has reached an “understanding” with the Democratic Unionist Party of Northern Ireland whose 10 seats are enough to give May enough votes to govern.
Here in the US, in more than half of the nation’s 35 largest markets, buying a typical home listed for sale now requires a greater share of income than the median-valued home entailed historically, according to a new report from Zillow. Californians have it worst when it comes to home loan affordability. Mortgage payments as a share of income are higher in Los Angeles than in any other major city or a typical property, these payments would eat up 46.8% of the median income. Historically, loan payments only represented 35.2% of median incomes for owners in LA. Portland is at 25.2% up from the 22.5% historical average.
Serving the West Side first, I am Bill Roller of BR Capital for 1360 KUIK.
