Happy Sunday! Well, you could say it’s been opposite week.
On Monday, a US-China trade truce saw big tech soar, but smaller stocks were powering the market by Thursday; Tesla, a car company, was touting its dancing robots; and OpenAI geared up to become a public benefit corporation as rival Perplexity was closing talks to privately raise vast sums of money.
Today we’re exploring two ends of another spectrum: how generations like to spend their money. For young people, this at least used to be arcade games… while older cohorts are increasingly enjoying squandering coins on not-new houses. |
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Thanks to the combination of still-elevated mortgage rates and house prices, which, at a national level, have been remarkably resilient in the face of higher borrowing costs, America’s post-Covid housing market is looking a little strange. In 2010, first-time home buyers were behind half of all purchases. Last year, they accounted for just 24%.
With millions of younger people frozen out, America’s older, wealthier cohorts have invested in real estate, sending the average age of buyers up significantly.
In 2024, the median age of first-time US homebuyers hit a record 38 years — the highest since data collection began in 1981 — per the National Association of Realtors. Overall, the average age of an American homebuyer also reached an all-time high of 56 years last year, a 44% increase from two decades ago, while for repeat buyers, the trend was even more stark. |
But it’s not just America’s homebuyers themselves that are getting older — the homes they’re buying have aged, too. |
According to a new Redfin analysis, the median age of US homes sold in 2024 rose to a record 36 years, up from 27 years in 2012. And, on closer inspection, the trend might have less to do with vintage charm than you might think… |
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Other great stories from the week |
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The Minion machines have run dry. Their fruit — stuffed Kevins, Bobs, Stuarts, and a sort of half-recognizable fourth one that doesn’t look quite “official” — sits withering on the vine.
As tariffs rock the US economy, the humble arcade prize — a sticky hand, a tie-dye bear, a foam basketball that stinks like rubber cement — has become collateral damage in a broader economic clash playing out far beyond the Dave & Buster’s ticket redemption room.
Despite Monday’s tariff-tempering announcement between the US and China, many of the companies behind the imported prize toys that arcades rely on, as well as the players who win them, are preparing for a devastating blow. |
We looked into how claw machine suppliers, amusement businesses, and one serious arcade power player are coping with the fallout. |
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