*as of 8/18; Sources: S&P, BTC, FTSE, DJRE, GOLD

Housing starts declined dramatically last month, falling 12.4% in July and 13.5% year-over-year, with both single-family and multifamily segments seeing significant drops. Single family construction was down 9.9% monthly and 15.7% annually, while multifamily fell 15.6% monthly and 7.1% annually. On the other hand, building permits rose 5.0% to the highest pace since February with gains across both single-family and multifamily. The number of permitted units that have not broken ground yet has risen to the highest level in more than a year.

➨ TAKEAWAY: It seems that homebuilders are getting permits to ensure they can start their projects when they want to, but are increasingly deciding that now is not the time to do so. Overall, the total units actively under construction has fallen 6% year-over-year, indicating that builders are waiting for buyer demand to return and interest rates to fall. This means the perpetual housing supply shortage should continue, which should help real estate values long-term, particularly in markets with lower new construction rates.

🏢 Top CRE market: After seeing a 259% year-over-year increase in sales, Northern Virginia is now the #1 market in the U.S. for commercial real estate activity, largely driven by data center deals. Dallas came in second after six straight years at #1, followed by Chicago and Manhattan.

🤖 Physical AI funding: VC funding for physical AI startups was up nearly 4x in the first half of the year, with robotics, defense tech, and autonomous vehicle companies leading the way. It has become clear that the AI revolution is not just about AI models and generative AI, but also about companies using it for practical, real-world applications.

🏀 Jordan jersey to be auctioned: The jersey worn by NBA legend Michael Jordan in Game 3 of the 1998 NBA Finals - the so-called “Last Dance” - is coming to auction next month at Joopiter. It could challenge the current $10.1 million record for a basketball jersey that was set by Jordan’s jersey from Game 1 of the same series.

🏡 Home prices inching up: Redfin’s Home Price Index showed U.S. home prices growing 0.27% in July, and 3.4% annually, the fastest annual growth in a year. The markets with the top annual gains were San Francisco, Chicago, and Nassau County, N.Y., while the biggest declines were all in Texas - San Antonio, Fort Worth, Dallas, and Austin.

🚀 Wispr funding: The AI startup known for its Flow dictation tool raised $280 million at a $2 billion valuation, nearly triple its valuation from last November.

💵 Default rates: While private credit funds reported a 3.95% default rate at the end of Q1, their problem borrowers actually represent nearly 6% of all investments across those funds, meaning the default rates could be understating the actual risk.

Of the tokens in the top-100 by market cap, the one that had the steepest drop in price over the last week is the native token of Uniswap, a top decentralized cryptocurrency exchange by volume. The decline in price came despite strong on-chain activity and trading volume, as Uniswap retains a far lower percentage of fees compared to competitors such as Hyperliquid. The token had nearly doubled in value between mid-June and early-July, but has given back much of those gains and is now down around 68% in the past year.