Linkage: Super-low rates might rise again this week

Today’s Linkage paints a picture of a healthy housing market: builders are hiring more construction workers, buyers are starting to have more leverage over sellers, foreclosures are down, and people are paying their mortgages on time.

Last week’s weak jobs report might have shaken people up a bit, but things are looking good in the neighborhood.

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You won’t be surprised to learn that the business of building luxury dorms for rich college kids is booming around the U.S. And if you are surprised, check out the chart on distribution of American wealth that our friend Barry Ritholtz grabbed and it’ll click for you.

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In other news, the National Association of Realtors invested in a startup that wants to automate the homebuying process. At first that confused me, because I figured automating buying a home would put realtors out of business. But what we’ve found in consumer finance is that technology actually frees up time for pros to actually serve you, making their job even more important.

Enjoy today’s reads as we go deeper later today.