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“I think Biden has a much worse record on the debt than Trump does, but Trump in some ways could be a big spender himself, so I hope that he becomes more fiscally conscious,” Moore told MarketWatch, while speaking on the sidelines of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

Jason Trennert, CEO and chairman of Strategas Securities, expressed a similar hopeful sentiment, when asked if he expects Trump would be different in a second term after not being much of a fiscal hawk in his first term.

“I do, simply because of the starting point. We’re starting at a much more precarious time right now,” Trennert said, as he also spoke on the sidelines of the GOP convention. Trennert noted the national debt was under $20 trillion when Trump came into office in 2017, but it’s now nearly $35 trillion.

Regarding the increase in the debt, the Strategas CEO said a “not insignificant part of that was COVID.”

“But the spending that’s been taking place after COVID has ended — you’re looking at budget deficits that are enormous, so that’s why I’m hopeful that the new administration would focus more on this,” he told MarketWatch.

From MarketWatch’s archives (April 2020): How the U.S. government is spending trillions in response to the COVID crisis — in one chart

The 2024 platform from Trump and his fellow Republicans, which was released last week, makes references to slashing or “reining in” wasteful spending, but otherwise disappointed some fiscal hawks. A column from the National Review, a conservative magazine, said the GOP platform was “discouraging” for anyone worried about the ballooning debt and its implications.

A report last year from the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank, estimated that the legislation and executive actions signed by Trump added $7.8 trillion in 10-year budget deficits. 

Read on:

‘I’m hopeful the tariffs will be used as leverage’: Trump’s allies discuss his economic plans at GOP convention

Trump’s proposed tariffs spark concerns for oil industry, even as the industry likes a lot of his agenda

‘Absurd’ to think Trump’s policies would be inflationary, says possible Treasury pick

Earlier in the week, “Hillbilly Elegy” ranked 220th on that list, according to the Associated Press.

Also, the 2020 Netflix NFLX, -1.35% film based on the book is gaining viewers. The picture, which stars Glenn Close and Amy Adams, now ranks as the fourth most-popular movie on the Netflix streaming platform.

At least one book-industry expert predicts this is just the start of what’s to come for the 39-year-old author-turned-politician, who is also a former venture capitalist and protégé of tech investor Peter Thiel.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if Vance outsells Stephen King this year,” said Allen Salkin, an author and co-owner of the New Books Network, a podcast production company that focuses on the publishing world.

Salkin noted that Harper, the publisher of “Hillbilly Elegy,” is in a comfortable position to promote the title, since it’s already made a sizable profit on it. Sales of the book have topped 1.6 million copies.

Harper “is playing with house money now, the best possible position to profit more,” Salkin said, noting that he could see copies being purchased and held out for Vance to sign at rallies in the days and weeks ahead.

Harper is the flagship imprint of publisher HarperCollins, which is part of News Corp NWS, -1.43% NWSA, -1.58%, the parent of MarketWatch publisher Dow Jones.

From the archives (March 2024): Trump running mate in 2016 and 2020 Mike Pence tells Fox News he won’t endorse Trump

Vance has already reportedly made a sizable sum from “Hillbilly Elegy.” In 2021 — five years after the book’s publication date — Vance earned nearly $500,000 in royalties, according to published reports. And there’s no word as to what he may have collected for the Netflix film rights.

Perhaps just as important, the book made Vance a national name and propelled him to his current political career.

On social media, many commenters said they were eager to learn more about Vance. A few noted they had watched the film version of “Hillbilly Elegy” upon learning of Vance’s appointment by Trump or were planning to read the book.

Vance explained why he thought “Hillbilly Elegy” became so popular in a 2016 interview with the Wall Street Journal: “I think it speaks to a couple of things: first, that people are really curious about the anger and frustration of the white working class; second, that members of the white working class have been hungry to have someone tell their story.”

High mortgage rates didn’t spook Medina, even if they meant taking on a 30-year loan at a 6.8% interest rate. The process of actually finding a house and signing the contract, he said, was the painful part.

After attending around 15 open houses, the couple put down five offers, all of which fell through. “I just remember the first one. It felt like we were getting crushed,” Medina said. The home was listed at $395,000, so the couple offered $405,000. The buyer ended up going with an all-cash offer of $400,000 that came with no contingencies. 

Bid after bid, buyers with deeper pockets kept beating out Medina and his wife. “There was one where they went [$40,000] over asking,” Medina recalled. “It was extremely competitive.” 

Over a third of home purchases in February were made with all cash, according to a Redfin analysis. “In many places, wealthy Americans are the only ones who can afford to buy homes,” said Chen Zhao, the brokerage’s economics research lead.

But the couple’s efforts eventually paid off with their sixth bid, and they closed on their home March 5.

Medina’s experience illustrates how competitive and expensive the U.S. housing market has become for first-time home buyers, particularly millennials.

It’s also a tale of perseverance and success. Millennials, the largest generation in the U.S., are the country’s dominant home buyers today, according to the National Association of Realtors’ latest annual report on generational trends in home buyers and sellers. And their demand for homes to buy is likely to only intensify in the years to come, based on industry forecasts and analyses of demographic trends. 

Millennials reclaim the home-buying title after brief boomer takeover

To be sure, older generations still have the upper hand in the housing market.

“Sellers have lived in their homes for a long period of time, and they’ve gained a lot of housing equity,” Jessica Lautz, the deputy chief economist and vice president of research at the National Association of Realtors, told MarketWatch. So when they’re buying homes, they can pull out all the stops and pay for a home with cash. 

“But millennials found a way to enter into the market,” Lautz added.

After a brief period last year when millennials lost the title of the dominant home-buying generation to baby boomers, they have taken back the title, the new NAR report found. Millennials made up 38% of home buyers, the largest group by generation, followed by boomers at 31% and Gen X at 24%. 

First-time buyers made up 32% of all home buyers, the NAR said. Younger millennials in particular made “huge strides in becoming a first-time home buyer,” Lautz said; about 17% of home buyers were younger millennials. 

In fact, the 2023 surge by boomers was a blip, as millennials have made steady gains in homeownership and have outpaced their elders every year since 2014, aside from last year, Lautz said.

But with boomers seeing a sharp increase in home values and equity, they remain a formidable home-buying force. Over the next few years, there will be a tug-of-war between the two largest generations as to which will dominate the market, Lautz said. 

Gen Z women make homeownership gains

At the other end of the spectrum, the youngest generation of home buyers — who generally have less wealth given their age — are making strong progress towards homeownership. Even though Gen Z made up the smallest share of home buyers, at 3%, women of that generation have made significant headway toward homeownership, NAR’s data showed.

Overall, 20% of recent home buyers were single women, and Gen Z made up the highest share of single women buyers, the NAR said, at 31%.

Jasmine Wells, a 24-year-old active-duty servicemember, was one of those new, single homeowners. 

After learning in January 2022 that she would be stationed in South Carolina, Wells bought her first home there. She decided to buy after seeing how much cheaper it was to own rather than rent.

“When I was looking at apartments, I saw that to get an apartment in a nice area, it was something like $1,800 a month,” Wells told MarketWatch in an interview. “I felt that it was like a really good idea for me to purchase a home.” 

She found from her supervisor that there was a company that works with people in the Army, like her. The company then assigned her a specific real-estate agent during the house-hunting process, but that arrangement wasn’t working for her: The offers she submitted were falling through. She found her own agent and they looked at more homes, including newly constructed ones. 

In May 2022, she found her target, and two months later, she closed on the newly built home for $300,000 with a mortgage backed by the Department of Veterans Affairs. She has a mortgage rate of 4.5%.

“My goal was to create generational wealth,” Wells said. “My mom talked to me a lot about how long she waited to purchase a home … and she completely regretted not purchasing it sooner to build generational wealth.” 

Boomers still rule home-selling

When it comes to selling homes, there’s no doubt about it — baby boomers are the dominant generation. 

Younger baby boomers in particular made up the largest share of home sellers, at 26%, NAR said. The median seller was 64 and earned a median income of $103,000. 

Gen X made up the second-largest share of sellers, at 23%. 

The most common reason homeowners cited for selling their house was to move closer to family and friends, according to the NAR. Other reasons included their home being too small and their family situation changing.

The typical homeowner lived in their house for 10 years before selling. That number has stayed the same over the past few years, but before the Great Recession, people used to move every six or seven years on average, Lautz said.

Tenure also varied widely by age group: Younger millennials typically stayed in their homes for four years, while sellers ages 59 and older stayed for 15 years.

One possible explanation for people staying in their homes for longer after the recession is that they “may think of their house in a different type of way,” Lautz said. People find staying in one place for a longer period of time to afford stability, and also allow them to build more equity in their home.

“But they may also have a lower interest rate, or [may] have purchased a larger home,” she added, “so this gives them some stability that they don’t have to make a housing trade.”

How have home prices and mortgage rates affected you? We want to hear from readers who have stories to share about the effects of increasing costs and a changing economy. If you’d like to share your experience, write to readerstories@marketwatch.com. Please include your name and the best way to reach you. A reporter may be in touch.

The data “comes after the surprising and very positive growth in industrial production in February, while this set of positive figures reinforces hope that the manufacturing sector will be able to restore solid growth, which will be one of the most important factors to support oil prices this year,” said Samer Hasn, market analyst at XS.com, in a note.

Traders are returning from a three-day holiday, with futures trading closed on Good Friday. WTI booked a gain of around 16% in the first quarter. Brent rose nearly 14%, supported by production cuts by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and optimism over the economic outlook.