The usual house-buying season in the spring is not meeting the usual expectations this year. New mortgages are measuring down this past April, lower than the five year average prior to the onset of the covid pandemic. While there are several reasons for this, the main ones appear to be higher housing prices along with rising mortgage interest rates in the environment of a slower economy. (See more at The Guardian, “UK property market lacks spring bounce but a crash is unlikely,” Larry Elliott, 6/4/2023)

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OPERATION OVERLORD – 6 June 1944

“A 1,200-plane airborne assault preceded an amphibious assault involving more than 5,000 vessels. Nearly 160,000 troops crossed the English Channel on 6 June, and more than two million Allied troops were in France by the end of August.” (More at Wikipedia)

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Freightwaves reported last week that “Legislation to invest $755 million over three years to expand truckparking in the U.S. advanced in the House on Tuesday after an opponent won assurancesthat the money would come from funds already authorized by Congress.” (See more at Freightwaves, “House transportation committee OKs $755M to expand truck parking” by John Gallagher, 5/23/2023)

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Following 2020 and the resulting post-pandemic world, dramatic changes and trends have materialized in the U.S. and global working environment. In the U.S., 4% of jobs were remote before the pandemic vs. 26% in 2022, and remote work continues to grow globally (46% searching for remote work). Talent acquisition and retention is a major concern as 41% of the global workforce is considering leaving their jobs. All of these new realities and other related issues present major challenges for the ongoing global relocation management process. (See Relocation Coordinates International, “2023 Global Relocation Trends” 5/3/2023)

Interconex, keeping a good pulse on the industry, explains in a news update that “move activity in 2023 is not what it has been in the previous two years." Alex Talbot, Executive Vice President at Interconex continues, “With the downturn in business, capacity is good in the U.S., with some challenging areas that are not typical. For the past two years, major markets like The Bay Area, Boston, DC, and the NYC Tri-State area would be booked up for the next six weeks and as of today are fairly open. That said peak season is here and we are confident June and July will start to get booked up.” (See more at Interconex News, “Global Households Shipping Update” by Alex Talbot, CRP,GMS, Exec VP; 5/22/2023)

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During the 1950s and 60s, truck driving in the U.S. was a very well-paid blue-collar job before the industry substantially changed in the 80s. This change began with the Motor Carrier Act of 1980, deregulating trucking and allowing the free market to determine freight rates, and drivers' salaries. Since then the trucking industry has grown from $170 billion annually in 1982 to $800 billion today. While in the past trucking was heavily unionized, deregulation has widely opened the industry generating hundreds of thousands of new fleets. (See: FreightWaves, “Why most of America’s ... truck drivers aren’t unionized” by Rachel Premack, 4/20/2023)

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