Real Estate Headwinds (Editorial) - Arkansas Business — Business News, Real Estate, Law, Construction

At this time last year, many economists were predicting a recession in the U.S. It didn’t come. Inflation, while still too high, has fallen. Unemployment — the November rate in Arkansas was 3.3%; nationally it stood at 3.7% — remains at historic lows. Real gross domestic product nationwide rose at an annual rate of 4.9% in the third quarter of 2023. In Arkansas, the GDP growth rate was 0.7%. The S&P 500 index gained 24.2% last year. That’s not to say that the economy doesn’t face headwinds, among them high...