Pending house sales fall again

A gauge of pending U.S. previously owned home sales fell in August to the lowest level since April 2020, evidence of a resale market throttled by higher mortgage rates.

The National Association of Realtors’ index of contract signings tumbled 7.1% to 71.8 from July, the group reported Thursday.

The decline was larger than all estimates in a Bloomberg survey of economists.

“Some would-be home buyers are taking a pause and readjusting their expectations,” Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, said in a statement.

“It’s clear that increased housing inventory and better interest rates are essential to revive the housing market.”

Compared with a year earlier, pending home sales were down nearly 19% on an unadjusted basis.

Mortgage rates, which surged to an almost 23-year high last week, continue to thwart demand.

That, combined with still-high prices and limited inventory, is contributing to one of the most unaffordable housing markets ever.

Target closing nine urban stores

Target said Tuesday that it will close nine stores in urban areas across four states, citing increased violence related to theft and organized retail crime.

By Oct. 21, three stores in Portland, two in Seattle, one in New York and three in the San Francisco-Oakland area will shut down.

Retail crime at those locations has reached a level that threatens safety and “business performance,” Target said.

“We know that our stores serve an important role in their communities, but we can only be successful if the working and shopping environment is safe for all,” the company said in a news release.

Some employees will have the opportunity to transfer to other stores, the company said.

Target has been vocal about its troubles with theft and organized retail crime.

Chief executive Brian Cornell said on a second-quarter earnings call last month that stores saw a “120% increase in theft incidents involving violence or threats of violence” during the first five months of the year.

Target said in May that shrink – the depletion of inventory caused by something other than sales – accounted for $500 million in losses.

But Michael Fiddelke, its chief financial officer, did not specify how much for that can be attributed to external theft.

Shoplifting, organized crime and violence have become significant concerns for regional and national retailers.

Home Depot, Lowe’s, Dollar Tree, Dick’s Sporting Goods and Ulta are among those that flagged shrink during recent earnings calls.

Growing losses have spurred giants such as Walmart to also shutter locations.

External theft accounted for an average of 36% of shrink-related losses at physical stores in 2022, according to the National Retail Federation’s security survey.

Toyota global sales up 9%

Toyota Motor Corp.’s global sales climbed 9% in August from a year earlier to a record 923,180 vehicles, thanks to an improvement in supply conditions and stronger demand.

Global production rose 4% to a record 924,509 vehicles, including subsidiaries Daihatsu Motor Co. and Hino Motors Ltd., the Japanese carmaker said Thursday.

Sales of Toyota and Lexus brand cars rose over 3% in Europe, mostly in Italy, Spain and England.

But they dropped 4% in Asia, with a 6% slide in China, where Toyota and other legacy carmakers like Volkswagen AG face tough competition from Tesla Inc. and Chinese electric-vehicle makers such as BYD Co.

Toyota’s sales in Japan grew 45% from a year earlier in August, and 63% in South Korea.

From wire reportsThe world’s best-selling carmaker has told suppliers that it plans to make 150,000 EVs this year, 190,000 in 2024 and 600,000 in 2025, according to a Nikkei report last week.

Toyota sold 11,880 battery EVs in August, bringing its total this year to 65,467.

That’s more than double the 24,000 it sold in 2022, but still a far cry from the 1.5 million that Chief Executive Officer Koji Sato vowed to sell every year by 2026.

The company didn’t release August EV production figures Thursday.

Earlier in September, Toyota invited journalists on a tour of its factories to showcase the technology it is developing to mass produce BEVs.

With a similar workshop in June, the company continues a publicity campaign to convince stakeholders that it has the means and conviction to catch up and compete with global EV frontrunners like China’s BYD and Elon Musk’s Tesla Inc.