Yes, it would have to be rates for some reason or other jumping up. I find that remarkably unlikely. I don't think that would happen. Price growth jumping to a point whereby affordability declines further? I don't see that happening either. So I think all in all, modest improvement across the board is one that is the most likely scenario.
For those of us monitoring mortgage rates and the overall economy, the last few months of 2025 were marred by chaos. This was thanks to a long government shutdown (which canceled or delayed much of fall's federal data), as well as conflicting comments from Federal Reserve leaders that made December's vote on overnight borrowing rates more suspenseful than usual. Sure, we might be just over a week into 2026, but it feels eerily stable so far by comparison.
The biggest macro factor affecting DGRO in 2026 is the Federal Reserve's rate-cutting trajectory. After holding rates elevated through much of 2025, the Fed resumed cuts in September. Lower rates typically benefit dividend growth stocks by reducing competition from Treasury yields and lowering borrowing costs for growth-oriented companies DGRO favors. Watch the Federal Reserve's statements following each Federal Open Market Committee meeting, typically held eight times per year.
Hard-earned funds are getting more and more squeezed, and that must be a cause for concern. People who have done the right thing-saved consistently and planned carefully-are finding that their money simply doesn't stretch as far as they expected.
Aside from the ongoing geopolitical turmoil we've seen, as well as concerns around inflation driven by quickly-changing tariff and trade policies, the direction of monetary policy coming out of the Federal Reserve could be the hot topic many will be watching very closely. Given president Trump's views on interest rates (namely, that they're way too high right now), a pressure campaign is still being waged on the Fed to drop rates, and do so quickly.
First-time buyers are expected to drive the UK housing market in 2026, with further interest rate cuts likely to improve stretched affordability. The for-sale market should accelerate moderately, with prices rising by 2% to 4%, while rent rises are likely to slow from the rapid increases of recent years, according to lenders and estate agents.
Top of mind for most investors may be overall economic growth, and that of AI. Indeed, the AI trade is driving most of the GDP growth we've seen in recent quarters, and that's a trend that's expectid to continue. And with most of the economic growth still coming from the top 10% of wage earners, the likelihood that we see the so-called "K-shaped" economy gather steam, this could become much more important to the overall investing narrative in 2026.
There has not been a lot of growth in the HECM space, Mayer said. New originations have almost entirely been driven by what the 10-year rate is in the market. HECMs go up when the 10-year rate goes down, and HECMs go down when the 10-year rate goes up. I do think we're going to see some growth in the HECM space in 2026, but the bulk of it is in proprietary products.
In assessing our economy or, really, any economy, you want to know if the economy is growing, that there are enough jobs for people, that people can borrow at reasonable rates and that the dollar you hold today is worth about the same as it did a year ago. If those four metrics are solid, we are good. Using Pareto's 80/20 principle-the idea that 20% of any set of numbers constitutes 80% of the value of the entire set-we
But there is another more unconventional activity that can be hugely popular: searching for a new home. Known as the Boxing Day bounce', property websites often record bumper rises in online clicks. At Zoopla for example, Christmas Day is the lowest volume of visitors looking at homes for sale and this increases by nearly 70 per cent the following day. The growth in traffic then continues, reaching a peak three to four weeks later.
The Dow is down about 45 points, as the Nasdaq tacks on another 26 points. After yesterday's Micron-induced tech rally, Oracle ( NYSE: ORCL) is giving markets a boost. All on news TikTok agreed to sell its U.S. operations to a new joint venture that includes the oversold tech giant and private equity investors at Silver Lake. Shares of Oracle are up about $8.50 in premarket on the news.
Most respondents expect business to grow next year, with 84.5% forecasting increased activity. Brokers cited stronger referral networks (38.5%), expanded non-QM offerings (30.4%) and improvements in the borrower experience (11.7%) as the primary drivers of growth. Brokers said the biggest challenges in 2025 were external. About 67.8% pointed to broader economic and market conditions, while 43.5% cited rate volatility. Client acquisition challenges were noted by 31.4% of respondents. Internal or operational issues, such as tools or regulatory changes, were cited far less frequently.
XRP (CRYPTO:XRP) is one of the top-10 tokens I continue to pay very close attention to. Much of that has to do with this network's underlying technology, its overall business model, and the value the XRP Ledger provides in facilitating cross-border transactions like few other networks can. Indeed, much of the broader thesis around crypto adoption really stems from the ability for retail and institutional entities to transfer value across the globe in a very efficient and low-cost manner.
