Good morning! It’s Daniel de Visé with your Daily Money.

Home sales skidded to a fresh low in 2024, Andrea Riquier reports, as high mortgage rates and property prices kept buyers and sellers on the sidelines of the housing market.

Americans sold 4.06 million previously owned homes in the year, the fewest since 1995, the National Association of Realtors said Friday. 2024 marked the third consecutive year in which sales were down, and a big slide from 2021, when 6.1 million homes changed hands.

Where do things stand in 2025?

What are lower taxes worth to you?

Most Americans like the Trump tax cuts. Now, Congress must decide what taxpayers would give up in order to keep them. 

President Donald Trump mandated sweeping tax relief, especially for corporations and the rich, with his Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. Many cuts are set to expire at the end of this year. With Trump and his party back in power, however, the path is clear for Republicans to extend them.  

But at what cost?

A credit card crisis

Americans are not okay financially, Medora Lee reports.

The share of active credit card accounts making just the minimum payment hit a 12-year high of 10.75% from July through September 2024, based on data from the largest banks in the country, the Philadelphia Fed said on Wednesday. As credit card balances swell, the share of delinquent balances is also rising.

Despite broader economic data showing that consumers remain resilient and spending is strong, these data paint a different picture.

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About The Daily Money

Each weekday, The Daily Money delivers the best consumer and financial news from USA TODAY, breaking down complex events, providing the TLDR version, and explaining how everything from Fed rate changes to bankruptcies impacts you.

Daniel de Visé covers personal finance for USA Today.