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By Abby Badach Doyle, NerdWallet It won’t be impossible to buy a house in 2025 — just be prepared to play on hard mode. According to a November 2024 report from ICE Mortgage Technology, the monthly principal and interest payment on an average-priced home is $2,385. While that’s not the highest it’s ever been, it’s still a sharp increase — nearly 80% — from just three years ago. In November 2021, when mortgage rates averaged 3%, the monthly principal and interest on an average-priced home was $1,327 per month. So here’s the key to buying in 2025: Look ahead, not back. Regret won’t help you budget for today’s new normal. And with this year’s election also in the rearview mirror, so is some uncertainty among buyers and sellers that historically slows the market during every presidential election cycle. “People have just been kind of sitting waiting to see what’s going to happen,” says Courtney Johnson Rose, president of the National Association of Real Estate Brokers, an industry group for Black real estate agents. “I’m hopeful that the new year will bring more attention to real estate, more excitement to real estate, and more opportunities for first-time home owners to get in the game.” Preparing to buy a house is a lot like dressing for the weather. It’s easier when the outlook is sunny — but with some planning, you can gear up to face any condition. Here’s what housing market experts are forecasting for the upcoming year. First, home prices: We’ll likely see more modest growth in 2025, a change from skyrocketing prices in recent years. After 16 consecutive months of year-over-year price increases, the median existing-home sales price hit $407,200 in October, according to the National Association of Realtors. In 2025, with more supply trickling in to temper price increases, NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun forecasts a median existing-home sales price of $410,700, up just 2% over this year. Next, housing inventory: Demand still outpaces supply. While we don’t expect a return to a buyer’s market, competition should be less cutthroat. Realtor.com forecasts a balanced market in 2025 with an average 4.1-month supply of homes for sale, up from an average 3.7-month supply so far in 2024. That would make 2025 the friendliest market for buyers since 2016, which had an average 4.4-month supply. Finally, mortgage rates: After topping 8% in October 2023, the 30-year mortgage rate has slowly eased into the 6.5%-7% range this year. Rate cuts from the Federal Reserve have helped nudge that downward. Despite earlier optimism, forecasters’ latest consensus is for rates to effectively plateau above 6% throughout 2025. That said, every year has its wild cards. In 2025, it’s still uncertain how President-elect Donald Trump and a Republican-led Congress might shake up regulations and tax policies that affect the U.S. housing market. National forecasts don’t analyze what matters most: Your personal cash flow. To get ready to buy, first meet with a financial advisor or use an online calculator to determine how much house you can afford . You can also get free or low-cost advice from a housing counselor sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Next, look into down payment and closing cost assistance from state housing finance agencies, local governments, nonprofits and mortgage lenders. Your employer or labor union might offer assistance, too. First-time buyers with income below their area median have the most options, but repeat or higher-income borrowers can qualify for some programs as well. “I think that there’s a lot of free money being left out there,” Rose says. Your not-so-secret weapon for buying in 2025 just might be an experienced buyer’s agent. “Anybody can write a contract,” says Sharon Parker, associate broker with Tate & Foss Sotheby’s International Realty in Rye, New Hampshire. “But you need somebody who’s seen the market, the ups and downs, who knows how to get creative because every transaction is different.” Following a settlement with the NAR , buyers can now negotiate their agent’s compensation up front. (Previously, home sellers took on that task.) While new norms are still shaking out, Rose says she hasn’t seen too much drama since the change took effect in August. “So as long as buyers remember that we have to talk about this in the beginning of our relationship, everything typically works out fine,” she says. Finally, it’s time to shop for a mortgage. To get the best interest rate, get a quote with at least three different lenders. You could also delegate the shopping to a mortgage broker, who can compare quotes and even negotiate a lower rate on your behalf. Though brokers charge a fee, their access to more mortgage options and lower rates can often mean net savings overall. With a mortgage preapproval in hand, it’s go time. And you don’t have to wait until spring: If you’re ready to buy now, buyers have less competition and more negotiating power from December through February, so you could snag a deal. “The people who are selling and the people who are buying in the off season are very serious,” Parker says. “They’re not just lookie-loos.” However, lower inventory means fewer choices for buyers. So start your search prepared to compromise — a “good enough” house will still help you build equity. If a down payment or monthly mortgage payment is financially out of reach, there’s no shame in postponing your search to pad your savings. And owning a home isn’t the right lifestyle choice for everyone, with the ongoing commitment of money and time. But once you’re ready to buy — whether for the first time, or to upgrade or downsize — avoid the trap of waiting for a dip in mortgage rates. “Nobody can predict what the market, or the world, is going to do,” Parker says. “There is no better time than right now.” Mortgage rates will always fluctuate, and if they drop significantly, you can refinance. For first-time buyers, homeownership is a major financial glow-up — and the sooner you jump in, the longer you’ll have to build home equity. “Time value of money is really, really critical when it comes to real estate,” Rose says. “So I would always encourage somebody to buy as soon as you can and get the clock ticking.” More From NerdWallet Abby Badach Doyle writes for NerdWallet. Email: abadachdoyle@nerdwallet.com. The article Buying a House in 2025: Your How-To Guide originally appeared on NerdWallet .Former Delhi Capitals skipper Rishabh Pant sold to Lucknow Super Giants for a massive price of Rs 27 crore, the highest ever bid in the history of the tournament in the IPL 2025 Auction at the Abadi Al Johar Arena in Jeddah on Sunday. Published: November 24, 2024 9:21 PM IST By Edited by Former Delhi Capitals skipper Rishabh Pant sold to Lucknow Super Giants for a massive price of Rs 27 crore, the highest ever bid in the history of the tournament in the IPL 2025 Auction at the Abadi Al Johar Arena in Jeddah on Sunday. A video has been shared on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) by the Indian Premier League franchise Delhi Capitals, thanking their star wicketkeeper batter by bidding a farewell post, the video has rapidly gone viral. Shukriya, Rishabh 💙❤️ — Delhi Capitals (@DelhiCapitals) Rishabh Pant, who captained Delhi Capitals in three seasons, was released from the squad ahead of the mega auction as the side retained four players -Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Tristan Stubbs and Abhishek Porel. The swashbuckling wicketkeeper-batsman has played 111 IPL games in his career and scored 3284 runs with 18 half-centuries and one century to his name. Pant’s bid surpassed former Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 winning captain Shreyas Iyer who was sold to Punjab Kings for a whopping Rs 26.75 crore earlier in the day. For breaking news and live news updates, like us on or follow us on and . Read more on Latest on . Topics
Nobel laureate in Physics Geoffrey E. Hinton receives his award from Sweden's King Carl Gustaf at the Nobel Prize ceremony in the Konserthuset in Stockholm, on Dec. 10. Pontus Lundahl/TT/Reuters Ryan Khurana is a senior fellow at the Foundation for American Innovation and a contributing author to the Macdonald-Laurier Institute. A Canadian, Geoffrey Hinton, has won the 2024 Nobel Prize in physics for his groundbreaking work in artificial intelligence – largely conducted in domestic institutions – but we face a stark paradox. While celebrating this historic recognition, new Stanford University AI vibrancy rankings reveal that Canada fell from third in the world, behind only the United States and China in 2017, to 14th in 2023 over a wide range of AI metrics. This dichotomy reflects a troubling pattern: Canada excelled at foundational research but struggles to maintain leadership in advancement, commercialization and deployment. The federal government’s recent investment of as much as $240-million in Cohere, a Toronto-based AI leader, furthers Canada’s $2-billion Sovereign AI Compute Strategy. But when it comes to the regulatory environment, the recently proposed Artificial Intelligence and Data Act (AIDA) threatens to exacerbate Canada’s challenges, potentially stifling adoption while failing to provide the clarity our AI ecosystem desperately needs. AIDA’s approach to regulation, while well-intentioned, raises several red flags. The legislation’s broad introduction of “high-impact” AI systems is to be defined in regulation. Yet the guidance that it will aim for interoperability with the European Union’s AI law indicates a propensity toward a similar lack of specification on the harms to be avoided, with significant penalties for not avoiding them. The proposed legislation attempts to exempt the development of open-source AI from the high-impact designation – something AI researchers criticized the EU for not distinguishing – based on the fact that “these models alone do not constitute a complete AI system.” The boundaries, however, between research and commercial application are increasingly blurred in modern AI development, with firms such as OpenAI and Anthropic engaging in both. Supporting research while restricting applications prevents the virtuous cycle of commercial-directed development that accelerates leadership and has been pivotal in enabling other countries to leapfrog Canada’s AI ecosystem. The solution isn’t to abandon regulation entirely. Rather, we need to fundamentally rethink AIDA’s approach. The goal should be to ensure that AI is developed safely, avoiding the catastrophic risks that the likes of Prof. Hinton and many others have increasingly worried about, while allowing for the practical use of current systems to expand. California’s AI safety bill, vetoed by the Governor after divided takes from Silicon Valley, demonstrated how to address legitimate AI safety concerns while maintaining a vibrant innovation ecosystem. Unlike AIDA’s focus on high-impact systems, California’s bill, SB-1047, focused specifically on “frontier” AI models, those requiring massive computing resources that could pose existential risks. The harms to be avoided are those that are caused by AI itself, of which there are potentially many. Where use could cause harm rather than the AI itself, SB-1047 leverages existing regulatory frameworks, such as consumer protection and privacy legislation. In Canada, there is an opportunity to take seriously AI safety concerns about alignment and AI failure that would provide leadership in ethical AI development. By focusing instead on improving Canada’s ability to build frontier models in line with values we would like to see embedded in AI systems, the downstream worries about potential harms in use can be further mitigated. We risk chilling adoption of AI if we regulate use based on unspecified potential harms and further limit Canada’s ability to support cutting-edge development. AI is a critical economic necessity, promising to kick-start a new era, with global consulting firm McKinsey forecasting as much as US$4.4-trillion in annual global GDP gained through AI-enabled productivity growth. Similarly, health care breakthroughs enabled by AI, such as AlphaFold, which earned DeepMind founder Demis Hassabis the 2024 Nobel Prize in chemistry, promise to redefine the future of health care and healthy societies. Canada has an incredible need for both productivity and health care advancement, given our rapidly aging population, and with our historical investment in this field, we should not allow this technology to be defined by the highest bidder. We’ve already demonstrated our capacity for world-changing innovation through the work of researchers such as Prof. Hinton. Now we need policy that builds on this legacy rather than constrains it. As the federal government considers AIDA, it must recognize that effective AI regulation should enable innovation while protecting against genuine harms. The current draft risks achieving neither and stifling the value of new investments. Without significant revision, we may find ourselves celebrating past achievements while watching our future leadership slip away.Massive Chinese espionage scheme hit 9th telecom firm, US says
Process to replace Matt Gaetz could cut into House GOP's narrow majoritySmartDrone Acquires Drone Operations of Skytec, Expanding UAV Service Capabilities
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — With Penn State's strong push for a spot in the College Football Playoff still a couple of wins from completion, the biggest roadblock to a bid for the Nittany Lions in this favorable final third of their schedule has appeared with a trip to Minnesota . That's why this week, naturally, is too early for them to talk about making the inaugural 12-team tournament — as enticing as their prospects might be. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings.
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Varun Sardesai (right) defeated NCP's Zeeshan Siddique (left) by a margin of 11,365 votes in Bandra East. MUMBAI: Uddhav Thackeray's nephew, Varun Sardesai , defeated NCP's Zeeshan Siddique by a margin of 11,365 votes in Bandra East. Sardesai polled 57,708 votes, while Siddique, who had held the seat in 2019, received 46,343 votes. Sardesai, Aaditya Thackeray 's cousin, marking his poll debut, said, "I am thrilled to have won my first-ever election. Last time, people were upset with our loss, but today, they have made their choice." "There was also an attempt by Mahayuti to split my votes. IPL 2025 mega auction IPL Auction 2025 Live: KKR break bank for Venkatesh Iyer, Ashwin returns to CSK IPL 2025 Auction LIVE: Updated Full Team Squads IPL Auction 2025: Who got whom They fielded Truptti Sawant from MNS and an Eknath Shinde faction candidate as an independent. However, this had no impact. What worked in my favour was presenting myself as a double graduate with no criminal record and assuring voters that I would remain accessible to them," said Sardesai. He, however, refused to comment on MVA's poor performance in the state. The defeat marked a significant setback for Siddique, who left the counting centre while votes were still being tallied. Reflected on the loss, he said: "I feel bad for letting my father's legacy down. First, I lost him, and now this. However, I humbly accept the people's mandate and wish Varun and Shiv Sena (UBT) the best." With Sardesai's victory, the Thackeray family's influence in Bandra East remains intact, despite facing an almost rout in the state.
Tua Tagovailoa sharp again as Dolphins dominate Patriots for third consecutive victoryHOUSTON (AP) — An elaborate parody appears to be behind an effort to resurrect Enron, the Houston-based energy company that exemplified the worst in American corporate fraud and greed after it went bankrupt in 2001. If its return is comedic, some former employees who lost everything in Enron’s collapse aren’t laughing. “It’s a pretty sick joke and it disparages the people that did work there. And why would you want to even bring it back up again?” said former Enron employee Diana Peters, who represented workers in the company’s bankruptcy proceedings. Here’s what to know about the history of Enron and the purported effort to bring it back. Once the nation’s seventh-largest company, Enron filed for bankruptcy protection on Dec. 2, 2001, after years of accounting tricks could no longer hide billions of dollars in debt or make failing ventures appear profitable. The energy company's collapse put more than 5,000 people out of work and wiped out more than $2 billion in employee pensions. Its aftershocks were felt throughout the energy sector. Twenty-four Enron executives , including former CEO Jeffrey Skilling , were convicted for their roles in the fraud. Enron founder Ken Lay’s convictions were vacated after he died of heart disease following his 2006 trial. On Monday — the 23rd anniversary of the bankruptcy filing — a company representing itself as Enron announced in a news release it was relaunching as a “company dedicated to solving the global energy crisis.” It also posted a video on social media, advertised on at least one Houston billboard and a took out a full-page ad in the Houston Chronicle In the minute-long video full of generic corporate jargon, the company talks about “growth” and “rebirth.” It ends with the words, “We’re back. Can we talk?” In an email, company spokesperson Will Chabot said the new Enron was not doing any interviews yet, but "We’ll have more to share soon.” Signs point to the comeback being a joke. In the “terms of use and conditions of sale” on the company's website, it says “the information on the website about Enron is First Amendment protected parody, represents performance art, and is for entertainment purposes only.” Documents filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office show College Company, an Arkansas-based LLC, owns the Enron trademark. The co-founder of College Company is Connor Gaydos, who helped create a joke conspiracy theory claiming all birds are actually government surveillance drones. Peters said she and some other former employees are upset and think the relaunch was “in poor taste.” “If it’s a joke, it’s rude, extremely rude. And I hope that they realize it and apologize to all of the Enron employees,” Peters said. Peters, 74, said she is still working in information technology because “I lost everything in Enron, and so my Social Security doesn’t always take care of things I need done.” “Enron’s downfall taught us critical lessons about corporate ethics, accountability, and the consequences of unchecked ambition. Enron’s legacy was the employees in the trenches. Leave Enron buried,” she said. But Sherron Watkins, Enron’s former vice president of corporate development and the main whistleblower who helped uncover the scandal, said she didn’t have a problem with the joke because comedy “usually helps us focus on an uncomfortable historical event that we’d rather ignore.” “I think we use prior scandals to try to teach new generations what can go wrong with big companies,” said Watkins, who still speaks at colleges and conferences about the Enron scandal. This story was corrected to fix the spelling of Ken Lay’s first name, which had been misspelled “Key.” Follow Juan A. Lozano on X at https://x.com/juanlozano70By Lea Skene | The Associated Press Maryland is suing the company that produces the waterproof material Gore-Tex often used for raincoats and other outdoor gear, alleging its leaders kept using “forever chemicals” long after learning about serious health risks associated with them. The complaint, which was filed last week in federal court, focuses on a cluster of 13 facilities in northeastern Maryland operated by Delaware-based W.L. Gore & Associates. It alleges the company polluted the air and water around its facilities with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances , jeopardizing the health of surrounding communities while raking in profits. The lawsuit adds to other claims filed in recent years, including a class action on behalf of Cecil County residents in 2023 demanding Gore foot the bill for water filtration systems, medical bills and other damages associated with decades of harmful pollution in the largely rural community. “PFAS are linked to cancer, weakened immune systems, and can even harm the ability to bear children,” Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown said in a statement. “It is unacceptable for any company to knowingly contaminate our drinking water with these toxins, putting Marylanders at risk of severe health conditions.” Gore spokesperson Donna Leinwand Leger said the company is “surprised by the Maryland Attorney General’s decision to initiate legal action, particularly in light of our proactive and intensive engagement with state regulators over the past two years.” “We have been working with Maryland, employing the most current, reliable science and technology to assess the potential impact of our operations and guide our ongoing, collaborative efforts to protect the environment,” the company said in a statement, noting a Dec. 18 report that contains nearly two years of groundwater testing results. But attorney Philip Federico, who represents plaintiffs in the class action and other lawsuits against Gore, called the company’s efforts “too little, much too late.” In the meantime, he said, residents are continuing to suffer — one of his clients was recently diagnosed with kidney cancer. “It’s typical corporate environmental contamination,” he said. “They’re in no hurry to fix the problem.” The synthetic chemicals are especially harmful because they’re nearly indestructible and can build up in various environments, including the human body. In addition to cancers and immune system problems, exposure to certain levels of PFAS has been linked to increased cholesterol levels, reproductive health issues and developmental delays in children, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Gore leaders failed to warn people living near its Maryland facilities about the potential impacts, hoping to protect their corporate image and avoid liability, according to the state’s lawsuit. The result has been “a toxic legacy for generations to come,” the lawsuit alleges. Since the chemicals are already in the local environment, protecting residents now often means installing complex and expensive water filtration systems. People with private wells have found highly elevated levels of dangerous chemicals in their water, according to the class action lawsuit. The Maryland facilities are located in a rural area just across the border from Delaware, where Gore has become a longtime fixture in the community. The company, which today employs more than 13,000 people, was founded in 1958 after Wilbert Gore left the chemical giant DuPont to start his own business. Its profile rose with the development of Gore-Tex , a lightweight waterproof material created by stretching polytetrafluoroethylene, which is better known by the brand name Teflon that’s used to coat nonstick pans. The membrane within Gore-Tex fabric has billions of pores that are smaller than water droplets, making it especially effective for outdoor gear. The state’s complaint traces Gore’s longstanding relationship with DuPont , arguing that information about the chemicals’ dangers was long known within both companies as they sought to keep things quiet and boost profits. It alleges that as early as 1961, DuPont scientists knew the chemical caused adverse liver reactions in rats and dogs. DuPont has faced widespread litigation in recent years. Along with two spinoff companies, it announced a $1.18 billion deal last year to resolve complaints of polluting many U.S. drinking water systems with forever chemicals. The Maryland lawsuit seeks to hold Gore responsible for costs associated with the state’s ongoing investigations and cleanup efforts, among other damages. State oversight has ramped up following litigation from residents alleging their drinking water was contaminated. Until then, the company operated in Cecil County with little scrutiny. Gore announced in 2014 that it had eliminated perfluorooctanoic acid from the raw materials used to create Gore-Tex. But it’s still causing long-term impacts because it persists for so long in the environment, attorneys say. Over the past two years, Gore has hired an environmental consulting firm to conduct testing in the area and provided bottled water and water filtration systems to residents near certain Maryland facilities, according to a webpage describing its efforts. Recent testing of drinking water at residences near certain Gore sites revealed perfluorooctanoic acid levels well above what the EPA considers safe, according to state officials. Attorneys for the state acknowledged Gore’s ongoing efforts to investigate and address the problem but said the company needs to step up and be a better neighbor. “While we appreciate Gore’s limited investigation to ascertain the extent of PFAS contamination around its facilities, much more needs to be done to protect the community and the health of residents,” Maryland Department of the Environment Secretary Serena McIlwain said in a statement. “We must remove these forever chemicals from our natural resources urgently, and we expect responsible parties to pay for this remediation.” Related Articles Business | Addicts trafficked cross country by ‘army of fraudsters,’ new lawsuit alleges Business | FTC sues largest wine and spirits distributor, saying it discriminates against smaller stores Business | LA prosecutor suing over alleged demotion during Gascón era tentatively settles Business | Embattled addiction treatment empire countersues Aetna in $40 million tug-of-war Business | California charges construction firm with felony wage theft at Cathedral City project