*as of 10/27; Sources: S&P, BTC, FTSE, DJRE, GOLD

The S&P Cotality Case-Shiller National Home Price Index showed U.S. home prices rising 0.3% monthly and 2.1% year-over-year in August, a slight increase from July’s 1.9% result. The top markets for annual growth were Chicago, New York, and Cleveland, with Seattle, Las Vegas, and Denver showing the biggest declines. Meanwhile, the FHFA House Price Index also rose 0.3% for the month and is up 2.4% annually, slightly above expectations. However, home values actually declined in real terms for the 15th consecutive month as property appreciation continued to lag behind the 3.4% annual inflation rate.

➨ TAKEAWAY: This data is all from August, when mortgage rates were still in the mid-6s, so it remains to be seen how the housing market has responded to rates jumping into the mid-7s. It is likely that elevated mortgage rates will hold down price growth as it restricts buying power and reduces demand. While home price growth remains modest overall, the luxury market has been outpacing the broader market in most of the country, as higher-end buyers are less sensitive to mortgage rates.

In the newest episode of Smart Humans, Slava Rubin talks with Get Access CEO Michael Goodbody about the evolution of private markets, democratizing access to transformational companies, and investing alongside A-list celebrities and athletes.

🦖 $47 million dinosaur sale: “Jodi,” a 19-foot long, 67-million-year-old Nanotyrannus fossil, sold at Sotheby's for $47.3 million, the second-highest amount ever for a dinosaur skeleton and well above the $9 million high estimate. Jodi comes with “full rights,” meaning its owner can create replicas of the skeleton and sell them to museums or collectors.

🤖 Robotics funding surges: Global venture funding for robotics startups hit $9.9 billion in Q3, a 185% year-over-year increase. Chinese startups have eclipsed U.S. startups, with $13.2 billion raised versus $12.1 billion, but the most valuable companies overall - Figure AI, Atoms, Skild AI, and more - are American.

📊 Consumer confidence recovers: The Conference Board’s U.S. consumer confidence index unexpectedly rebounded from 84.2 in September to 91.7, as gas prices decreased slightly. The September reading was the lowest since 2014, and October’s number is still below long-term averages, as consumers are still concerned about inflation and tariffs.

🏢 Apartment completions edge up: Around 82,000 units were completed in the U.S. in Q3, higher than Q1 and Q2 but still lower than any other quarter since 2019, and 50% below the peak levels from 2024. The South was responsible for around 50% of the completed units, while the Northeast was responsible for the fewest and the region saw a decline in completions for the quarter.

🎨 Sotheby’s Abu Dhabi debut: Sotheby’s is holding its first ever art auction in Abu Dhabi this December, with artwork from Claude Monet and Andy Warhol as the centerpiece items alongside regional artists. Its first auction last year in the city focused on jewelry, handbags, and high-end cars, and now the auction house is expanding its offerings.

🐕‍🦺 Warhound fundraise: A startup that is planning to genetically engineer military dogs came out of stealth with a $200 million funding round at a $1.2 billion valuation. Warhound was co-founded by defense tech startup Anduril’s Palmer Luckey and mammoth-cloning startup Colossal Biosciences’ Ben Lamm.

The token in the top-100 by market cap with the biggest decline in the past week was Worldcoin, the native token of Sam Altman’s digital identity eyeball-scanning project. The price has ping-ponged between $0.40 and $0.60 in the past month and sits around double its all-time low from May. However, it is still down 51.6% in the past year and around 90% since December 2024. With the project switching to a daily token unlock schedule in July, there is constant new supply coming to the market with no particular catalyst for buying demand. As such, expect Worldcoin to continue to lag behind the greater crypto market’s performance unless Altman figures out a way to tie it to OpenAI somehow.