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  • Southwest Economy

    Texas homeowners pay high insurance costs, face rising premiums

    Home insurance premiums have risen dramatically in the postpandemic years, with the median Texas homeowner paying 60 percent more for home insurance in 2024 compared with 2019, American Community Survey data show.

  • Dallas Fed Economics

    Measures of inflation misalign with pricier home insurance

    Overall, homeowners insurance is becoming less affordable, yet this deterioration in affordability is not well captured by either of the most widely used inflation measures—CPI or PCE—both designed to track price levels rather than affordability or household financial strain.

  • Dallas Fed Economics

    Home insurance premiums influence mortgage delinquencies, relocations

    The rise in homeowners insurance premiums since the pandemic is not just a pricing issue; it is a growing source of financial stress, inequality and geographic sorting.

  • Dallas Fed Banking

    Community Banks Play Important Role for Rural Eleventh District Communities

    Many of the Eleventh District’s rural counties rely on community bank branches, particularly in Texas and Louisiana. These rural areas are important to the production and support of the cattle, agricultural and energy industries for the district, the U.S. and the world.

  • Dallas Fed Banking

    Keeping bank depositors still comes down to rates

    How does a bank attract deposits and remain competitive when rates fluctuate and depositors are increasingly mobile? Managing the bank deposit franchise is a cornerstone of bank profitability and stability, and doing so has been challenging during the rapid rise in interest rates in 2022 and the subsequent regional banking turmoil.

  • Southwest Economy

    Higher interest rates transform housing market, Texas real estate workforce

    A pandemic-era period of relatively low interest rates and rising house prices drew a record number of new real estate agents to the field. Home prices have since remained high, but elevated interest rates and slowing sales have made the industry less attractive.

  • Southwest Economy

    Texas electricity providers draw on variety of sources

    Jim Burke, president and chief executive officer of Vistra Corp., the largest competitive power producer in the country, discusses the outlook for electric power generation in Texas as data centers and artificial intelligence demands are expected to reframe the business.

  • Dallas Fed Economics

    Consumption concentration may be up, adding slightly to economic fragility

    Analysts have taken notice of the large share of total U.S. spending attributable to the very highest earners. The concerns are that the emergence of K-shaped growth—bifurcated activity at an elevated rate among high earners and much more restrained among most others—may put the U.S. in greater economic peril.

  • Southwest Economy

    Fast-growing Texas metros offer blueprint to handle U.S. housing shortage

    Cullum Clark, director of the Bush Institute–SMU Economic Growth Initiative and an adjunct professor of economics at Southern Methodist University, discusses his recent report, “Build Homes, Expand Opportunity: Lessons from America’s Fastest-Growing Cities.”

  • Working Paper

    Household Consumption and Savings over the Life Cycle: The Roles of Demographics and Durables

    This paper provides a novel, developing country perspective by analyzing patterns of life-cycle consumption, income and savings rates in India.