David Brancaccio (3:14)

With the possible exception of limited edition Birkin bags and Air Jordans, new things are generally more expensive than used things. A newly built house, for instance, has all the updated trends.

Megan McCarty Carino (3:28)

You know, white countertops and most maybe white and gray cabinets.

David Brancaccio (3:32)

Nitin Gupta is a real estate agent in Dallas who mostly sells new homes. He says older homes often have stained carpet windows that don't seal or a wheezy old H Vac system that's no match for the Lone Star State Texas.

Megan McCarty Carino (3:46)

The air conditioning goes on 24 by 7.

David Brancaccio (3:49)

It's those differences that make this inversion in average prices weird, says Robert Dietz, chief economist at the national association of Home Builders.

Megan McCarty Carino (3:58)

We saw it happen in 2021, which was on the upside of a growing market, and before that, the only other times that I can recall it occurring were in significant market downturns, he says.

David Brancaccio (4:12)

Elevated interest rates have led builders to aim smaller, more modest townhomes than luxury five bedrooms. Plus, many are resorting to price cuts because an empty house is a drag on the bottom line. That's not really the case in the resale market, says Jessica Lautz, deputy chief economist at the National Realtors Association.

Carla Javier (4:34)

Existing home sellers are just entrenched in their homes. They have no motivation to move from low interest rate mortgages.

David Brancaccio (4:40)

The number of existing homes on the market has been increasing from the historic lows of the last couple years, but about 20% of sales are still coming in over asking price, says Louts. And some sellers are pulling their house off the market if offers are too low.

Carla Javier (4:57)

In fact, they're willing to become accidental landlords and to hold onto those properties.

David Brancaccio (5:02)

That could be pushing existing home prices higher. But there are also differences in where new homes are selling that throw the averages off, says Richard Greene, a housing economist at the University of Southern California. Almost 70% of sales last month were in the South.

Megan McCarty Carino (5:20)

They are built in markets that typically.

Nancy Marshall Genser (5:22)

Have much lower house prices than New England New York.

David Brancaccio (5:27)

Still, the softness in new home prices could be a sign the whole market is turning, says Rick Palacios at John Burns Real Estate Consulting.

Megan McCarty Carino (5:35)

Home builders experience it first and react, so it just takes a while longer to actually hit the resale markets, he says.

David Brancaccio (5:42)

The longer mortgage rates stay above 6%, the likelier it is that weakness will spread. I'm Megan McCarty Carino for Marketplace.

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Sabri Benishour (7:34)

The Department of labor has a plan for if the government shuts down. That plan does not include releasing scheduled data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which then we would not get very important data, as in the monthly jobs report that's supposed to come out Friday. We kind of need that to understand the labor market tells us how much workers are earning, the unemployment rate, marketplaces Carla Javier looked into what a delay might mean.

Carla Javier (8:00)

Imagine the job market is a bowl of soup. You could probably figure out just by looking if it's hot or cold or what might be in it.

Megan McCarty Carino (8:08)

But ultimately, probably the best way to figure out what what kind of soup it is and how good it is is just to taste the soup.

Carla Javier (8:15)

Daniel Zhao at Glassdoor says the BLS jobs report is the data equivalent of tasting the job market soup. It's a representative survey comparable over time.

Megan McCarty Carino (8:25)

We have this benchmark to be able to see, okay, well during past recessions or in the run up to past recessions, what were the patterns like and does that compare to what we're seeing right now.

Carla Javier (8:36)

There are other reports, including data expected Wednesday from the payroll company adp. But Jesse Rothstein at UC Berkeley says they aren't substitutes for federal jobs data.

Jesse Rothstein (8:46)

They're quite noisy. They miss large sectors of the economy, and it's much harder for them to track the overall trend.

Carla Javier (8:54)

Rothstein was chief economist at the Department of Labor. He says the impact of any potential data delay depends.

Jesse Rothstein (9:01)

If the numbers come out on Tuesday instead of Friday, that's not tragic event. But if this goes on for more than a few days, then it becomes.

Carla Javier (9:07)

A big problem, rothstein says, potentially pushing back data collection for October. I'm Carla Javier for Marketplace, and in.

Sabri Benishour (9:17)

New York, I'm Sabri Benishour with the Marketplace Morning Report from APM American Public Media.

David Brancaccio (9:32)

Hey, it's David Brancaccio. Marketplace's fall fundraiser ends on Friday, and we're making good progress toward our goal to hear from 2,000 marketplace investors. This is a different kind of goal, one that centers on your participation, whether it's your first ever donation, if you're chipping in again, or if you're starting or increasing a monthly gift. I'm telling you, it all matters more than ever now. So stand up and be counted as a Marketplace investor. And if you can't do it by Friday, go to marketplace.org donate.