✈️American Airlines posts loss; Sept housing report; Who remembers "Monster Mash"?

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📣NEWS OF THE DAY:

American Airlines posted a $545-million loss for the third quarter. Revenue was flat and costs rose, including the new contract with its pilots. Also looming are costs associated with a contract with flight attendants. American cut its forecast of full-year earnings to between $2.25 and $2.50 per share, down from $3 to $3.75 per share.

September housing report: Stable prices and increasing inventory were the highlights of the housing market in September. The median Fort Worth home price was $334,450, which is down 1.6 percent year over year. Inventory climbed to 2.5 months in Fort Worth and in Tarrant County. The increase of inventory provides more options than homebuyers have seen in years. Despite this good news, closed sales are down 8.9 percent in Fort Worth and 17.4 percent in Tarrant County, compared to September of 2022.

Here are the numbers for Fort Worth, versus last year and last month:

• 864 - Homes sold in September 2023, 8.9 percent less than September 2022, and 19.3 percent less than August 2023.

• $334,450 - Median price in September 2023, 1.6 percent less than September 2022, and 0.2 percent less than August 2023.

• 2.5 - Monthly housing inventory in September 2023, 0.3 months more than September 2022, and 0.1 months more than August 2023.

• 40 - Average number of days homes spent on the market in September 2023, 8 days more than September 2022, and 4 days more than August 2023.

Commercial leases in the news:

• Sunbelt Material Handling leased 48K SF at Blazing Trail Logistics Center in Fort Worth. Stream’s Brandon Delin and Luke Davis represented the tenant. Gil Stroube with Lincoln Property Co. represented the landlord, Affinius Capital.

• Locomotion Automatic Transmission leased 40K SF at 617 South Fourth Ave. in Mansfield. Stream’s Jeff Rein and Matt Blackburn represented the landlord, Pintail Partners. Metroplex Real Estate represented the tenant.

Dr. Julie Kennedy is opening Seed Wellness Co., a functional medicine practice and anti-aging institute at 5408 Birchman Ave., Fort Worth. Seed services will include: functional medicine, health coaching, lifestyle management, wellness consultation, personalized wellness products, nutrition, ozone & IV therapies, peptides, and bio identical hormone replacement.

Healthcare provider All Points North has arrived in Fort Worth. In addition to inpatient, outpatient and telehealth programs and services, All Points offers a fitness concept, interventional psychiatry, neurotechnology services, transcranial magnetic stimulation, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, and ketamine-assisted therapy.

Four north Texas cities, including Fort Worth, were awarded federal grants totaling $2,013,925. The $598,089 award is from the U.S. Department of Justice through the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (Byrne JAG) Program for the purchase of law enforcement equipment and to improve public safety. Fort Worth additionally will use its funding to contract mental health services in Tarrant County to answer police calls from the mentally ill and direct them to the appropriate mental health resources.

What does it take to be in the top 1% of earners in Texas? According to data from the IRS on adjusted gross income from the 2020 tax year, the cutoff was $543,479. That was 9% higher than the cutoff income in 2015. Texas ranks No. 15 nationally, where the top 1% of earners was $561,351, up 16.5% from 2015's cutoff of $482,050. (see table)

Employer-sponsored health plans in 2023 are 7% pricier than last year, according to a study by the Kaiser Family Foundation. The average premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance are about $8,500 per year for singles and $24,000 for families. The past decade, out-of-pocket premium costs have jumped 44% for family coverage and 40% for single coverage. Meanwhile, consumer prices overall rose about 33%.

Daily Digit: 14% = The increase in estimated holiday spending versus last year by American shoppers, according to Deloitte. Average shopper holiday spending is estimated to be $1,652, topping pre-pandemic spending levels.

🥾PEOPLE ON THE MOVE:

• Intuitive: Promotes Allison Silveus to Supply Chain Program Training Manager

• YMCA: Hires Jennifer Melson as director of donor experience

• JTaylor: Hires Maya Bloom as tax associate

• Westwood Contractors: Hires Ashlee Bellah as Controller and Charbel Amun as Pre-Construction Manager

• United Way of Tarrant County: Announces Ebony Jones as Chair of its Women United network

✂️SNIPPETS:

• Americans’ net worth surged by a record 37% from 2019-2022.

• Here are the top 20 photographs from the 49th annual Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition (photomicrography is the art of taking photographs incorporating a microscope).

• On this date (Oct 20) in 1962: The song Monster Mash by Bobby “Boris” Pickett becomes a graveyard smash when it hits #1 on the Billboard charts. (video)

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