🏡 Axios PM: Creative down payments

Plus: New warning to Israel | Tuesday, October 15, 2024

Open in app View in browser   Presented By Instagram   Axios PM By Mike Allen · Oct 15, 2024 Good Tuesday afternoon. Today's newsletter, edited by Sam Baker, is 546 words, a 2-min. read. Thanks to Sheryl Miller for copy editing.     1 big thing: Creative down payments   Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios   People who want to buy a house — and developers who want to sell houses — are trying to get creative to make deals happen. 💍 Newlyweds are increasingly asking friends and family to contribute to a down payment in lieu of traditional wedding gifts, the N.Y. Times reports (gift link). The number of couples including a house fund in their registry is up 62% since 2018, The Times reports, citing data from wedding website The Knot. Another survey found that many couples are also "registering" for help with other expensive parts of life, including fertility treatments and paying down student loans. 🏦 Between the lines: Many buyers weren't willing to sell while mortgage rates were at their peak. That's part of the reason newly constructed homes have sold considerably better than existing homes over the past few years. Developers reinforced that edge by offering mortgage products that shaved a few percentage points off of buyers' rates — and hundreds of dollars off their monthly payments. 🚜 But as rates begin to come down, developers likely won't get as much juice out of that kind of incentive, The Wall Street Journal reports (gift link).     2. 🇮🇱 U.S. to Israel: Let more aid into Gaza   Youths sift through waste at a landfill in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip today. Photo: Bashar Taleb/AFP via Getty Images The Biden administration warned Israeli leaders in a letter yesterday that they must take steps within 30 days to improve the humanitarian crisis in Gaza — or risk the supply of U.S. weapons to Israel, Axios' Barak Ravid reports. How it works: Countries that receive U.S. military aid and are in an active military conflict must allow the transfer of U.S.-supported humanitarian aid without interruption, according to U.S. law. The letter indicates that the U.S. doesn't think Israel is complying with those requirements. "The amount of assistance entering Gaza in September was the lowest of any month during the past year," Secretary of State Tony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin wrote. Go deeper ... Read the letter.     A message from Instagram Instagram Teen Accounts: Limits for teens, peace of mind for parents     Instagram Teen Accounts help parents support teens as they grow. Teen Accounts include automatic protections limiting who can contact teens and what content they see. The impact: More protections for teens, and peace of mind for parents. Learn more.     3. Catch me up   Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios   🎧 Spotify is paying hundreds of millions of dollars per year to audiobook publishers, suggesting that its foray into that market is helping to significantly grow the overall pie for audiobook publishers. Go deeper. 🗳️ Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she hasn't spoken to President Biden since urging him to drop out, and some of his allies "haven't forgiven" her for pressuring him about the decision. Go deeper. 🏈 Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium will get the '28 Super Bowl. Next year's game will be held at the Superdome in New Orleans, followed by Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., in '26 and SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., in '27. Go deeper.     4. 🍻 1 for the road: Big change for sports bars   Customers at Signature Bar & Restaurant in Chicago's South Loop watch Game 2 of the WNBA finals last Sunday. Photo: Andrew Seligman/AP Women's sports are getting more popular in bars and restaurants — another sign of their growing all-around popularity. 🏀 Women's basketball has smashed previous records for ticket sales and TV ratings over the past few years. Bar owners say they're noticing the difference, too. "It's kind of an entire paradigm shift of how women's sports are being viewed," Brian Wright, CEO of the Bar Louie chain, told AP. "You very seldom saw a group of men coming in saying: 'Can you put on that WNBA game?' Now, that's really becoming commonplace." Go deeper.     A message from Instagram New Instagram Teen Accounts: Automatic protections for teens     Instagram is launching Teen Accounts, with built-in protections limiting who can contact teens and the content they can see. Plus, only parents can approve safety setting changes for teens under 16. The impact: More protections for teens, and peace of mind for parents. Learn more.   📬 Please invite your friends to join PM. Are you a fan of this email format? Your essential communications — to staff, clients and other stakeholders — can have the same style. Axios HQ, a powerful platform, will help you do it.   Axios thanks our partners for supporting our newsletters. Sponsorship has no influence on editorial content. Advertise with us. Axios, PO Box 101060, Arlington VA 22201   You received this email because you signed up for newsletters from Axios. To stop receiving this newsletter, unsubscribe or manage your email preferences.   Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up now to get Axios in your inbox.   Follow Axios on social media: