HSBC's Return-to-Office Push Risks Denting CEO's Savings Plan
HSBC Holdings Plc is forecasting hundreds of millions in extra real estate costs as it considers asking more of its employees to return to the office, potentially hindering the bank in its bid to find $1.5 billion in annual cost savings.
Chief Executive Officer Georges Elhedery will have to make a series of decisions in the coming weeks over whether to acquire more desk space for the lender's staff in London, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Guangzhou, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be identified discussing internal deliberations. Securing the required space to support a return to three days a week in those cities would cost around $200 million a year, one of the people said.
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Wall Street Journal
an hour ago
- Wall Street Journal
Mortgage Rates Today, June 23, 2025: 30-Year Rates Climb to 6.83%
Mortgage rates are up, but still under 7%. Today's national average on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is 6.83%, according to Bankrate. If you choose a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage, the average rate is 6.04%. Interest rates for new mortgages and refinances continue to hover near 7%, contributing to a stifling summer for the economy. The labor market appears to have stalled, with many companies opting not to fill open positions. At the same time, rising costs have put pressure on consumer spending, contributing to a weak real estate market during the spring and summer. These risks have many business owners hunkering down for an uneasy few months ahead. The economic uncertainty has some analysts making the case that it's time for the Fed to cut interest rates, but Fed officials kept rates unchanged at their June meeting. The policymakers held the federal-funds rate to a range of 4.25% to 4.50%, but indicated that rate cuts might be possible later in the year. Future cuts will depend on whether the jobs market weakens significantly or it becomes more evident that prices won't spike due to tariffs. 'There are many, many different scenarios…where inflation does or doesn't prove out to be at the levels we think, where the labor market does or doesn't soften,' Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell told reporters. Top mortgage rates today Current mortgage rates are up, but lower than they were seven days ago and in early 2025, when the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage reached above 7%. Even though Federal Reserve policy doesn't directly impact today's mortgage rates, they have been easing since the Fed began cutting rates in late 2024. Mortgage rates change regularly, so compare offers and consider the personal and market factors that influence your quoted mortgage rate.
Forbes
an hour ago
- Forbes
Sheryl Palmer Loves Her Customers & Team—Shareholders Love Her Results
Taylor Morrison Chairman and CEO Sheryl Palmer brought love into the company's conversations. Her ... More team liked it so much they gifted her a Teddy Bear with the slogan. Whenever I talk to business leaders about the power of multi-stakeholder capitalism, I find it essential to share examples of executives who live by those principles. One of my favorites is Sheryl Palmer, the Chairman and CEO of Taylor Morrison (NYSE: TMHC), a leading national homebuilder and real estate developer based in Scottsdale, Arizona. Her track record proves that acting with sincere care for the best interests of customers, employees, and the wider community ultimately pays off for companies and their investors. Since 2007, Sheryl has led Taylor Morrison's expansion to its current total of 21 homebuilding markets in 12 states, through a blend of organic growth and acquisitions. The company has thrived despite major challenges such as the Great Recession of 2008, the Covid pandemic, and rising interest rates. This year Taylor Morrison was named America's Most Trusted Home Builder for the tenth consecutive year, according to Lifestory Research. It was also recognized by Forbes as one of the most trusted companies in America and by U.S. News & World Report as a 'Best Company to Work For' — among many other accolades. As for the bottom line — in 2024 Taylor Morrison built 12,896 new homes and drove $8.2 billion in revenue, with adjusted net income of $931 million. Sheryl graciously sat for an interview with me about how Taylor Morrison practices multi-stakeholder capitalism in a tough and very competitive industry. Let's start with how you think about your customers. Is there a core principle that guides you? We like to say we're a community builder first and a home builder second. There's a real hunger for community in this country, in addition to the hunger for more plentiful housing options. We see our mission as providing both. Most of our construction projects are new neighborhood developments, around 150 lots, along with the streets and other public spaces. It's a big responsibility, because the choices we make about community design will affect the quality of life of future residents for decades. This long-term responsibility means we need to focus on sustainability. When we build a new community, I want to come back and visit it in 20 years and I want to see it thriving. That's one reason we have an official relationship with the National Wildlife Foundation, to help us look out for local species of plants, butterflies and other natural elements. We're the only major builder that plans this way for the longevity of our communities. How did your 'Love the Customer' initiative get started? About every 18 to 24 months, I travel to every market where we build homes, so I can connect face-to-face with every team member nationwide. During one of those road shows, I happened to come up with a simple slogan: 'Love the Customer.' That may not sound groundbreaking, but in the construction industry no one uses the word 'love.' People responded so well to the phrase that we started to incorporating it into all of our internal communications. My team even got me a teddy bear with 'Love the Customer' on his t-shirt. I keep him in my office to remind me at all times to think about our customers. What does loving the customer look like in practice? Lots of employees email me examples, and I love to read some aloud at meetings. Highlighting those stories helps us reinforce this idea as a core value of Taylor Morrison. One of my favorite stories came from a builder who got really close to a young family while he was overseeing their first house. The wife was pregnant with the couple's first child. Our builder pulled the husband aside and quietly asked if they knew what they were having, because he could paint the nursery pink or blue at no extra charge. That gesture didn't require a lot of effort or cost. But it had a huge impact. When the wife did her walk-through inspection just before the closing, she was surprised and delighted to see that the baby's room was already pink. After that, she wasn't just a satisfied customer but a Taylor Morrison fan. Another great story involved a builder working with a family whose four-year-old daughter was fighting leukemia. He got to know the parents and the girl because they often visited the construction site. He found out that her biggest dream was to go to a Disney theme park, but she was forbidden because her weak immune system couldn't tolerate crowds. The builder, who happened to live in the same community, took the initiative to knock on the doors of every house in the neighborhood, plus local businesses, the police department and the fire department. He asked everyone to join a Disney-style parade on a chosen date, dressed up like their favorite Disney characters. The parents had the girl sit on her front lawn in a beach chair while her neighbors marched past in a parade. It was an incredible, joyful moment. Local news covered the parade, which generated some publicity, but that wasn't the goal. The builder was just loving his customer and he felt empowered to go the extra mile. It was like a tonic for the community that lingered for years. Did you get any internal pushback to 'Love the Customer"? Not everyone at the company embraced the idea at first, because our industry has a tradition of strict separation of roles. The mindset used to be that the sales team did all the interactions with customers, and construction managers didn't have to waste any time dealing with them. It was like a 15-foot wall between those departments. But we've been fighting that old-school mindset for a long time. Our builders personally demonstrate the house at the framing stage. They do a walk-through with each customer before closing, where they confirm that all the details in the contract are in place. We've found that this kind of interaction really pays off. They can bond with their customers instead of seeing them as a pain in the neck. It sounds like your attitude toward customers is closely tied to your attitude toward your people. Definitely. Too many CEOs and executives still look at labor as the biggest cost on their P&L statement, not as an asset. They don't understand that productivity is the key to any business's success, and treating employees well increases long term productivity. It seems so obvious, yet so many people don't get it. When I worked in advertising in my twenties, people were always the first thing cut during a downturn or any kind of cash crunch. There was no thought about what damage those layoffs would do when the cycle turned and we needed more staff again. I learned that the way you act at the bottom of a business cycle affects how strong you'll be when better days return. When I became CEO in 2007, just after the merger of Morrison Homes Inc. and Taylor Woodrow Inc., we had just under 2100 team members. The following year, the financial crisis hit our industry especially hard, and we had to reduce our headcount to a low of about 630 people. That was a horrible, painful process, but we tried to do it with respect and compassion. FILE - In this April 10, 2018 file photo, Taylor Morrison Chairman, President and CEO Sheryl Palmer, ... More in white at center, joins applause as she rings the New York Stock Exchange opening bell, to celebrate their fifth anniversary of listing. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File) Like most of our competitors, we didn't fully start to recover until 2011. But unlike our competitors, we found that about 65% of our new hires were former employees who we'd had to let go during the crash. So we must have made an impression by doing layoffs humanely, or else they wouldn't have come back. And now they were helping us grow and thrive again. That was a major aha moment. It validated my core belief that in good and bad times alike, it really matters how you treat people. Is it hard to spread this kind of employee culture when you do acquisitions? Acquisitions are a challenging way to grow because you're asking people to suddenly accept that they have a new management team and a new culture. Before you close a deal, due diligence can give you lots of information about the land and other assets you're acquiring, but the people involved are a big question mark. You can't even talk to potential new employees until the deal is announced, due to disclosure laws. We've done eight deals since I became CEO, two of them with other public companies. After each deal I immediately do a road show to the offices of the new acquisition, along with my senior executive team. I believe that you have to go in person during this kind of situation — you can't just send a memo or do a video hookup. If the new company is in a market where we don't have a current presence, like the one we bought last year in Indianapolis, I start by telling folks that we need them and want them to stay. I ask them to keep an open mind as we explain what Taylor Morrison stands for and what we're going to be able to do together. If it's a market where we already have management teams, most people understand that we have to reduce overlap to make the math work. But I stress that I assume everybody is qualified until proven otherwise, and we're not going to automatically keep everyone from Taylor Morrison and fire their counterparts. Instead, we're going to interview everybody and combine the best of both groups, with a fair process. We closed the biggest acquisition of my career, for a $2 billion company, just a couple of weeks before Covid hit in 2020. We suddenly had 800 new team members who were stuck at home before they could even get to know their new colleagues or systems. In some parts of the country, we were also required to shut down our sales offices and not meet with customers. Fortunately, we had the flexibility to adapt and begin the integration process remotely, via phone trees and zoom meetings. We also created a process for doing virtual online tours, making us the first builder to take reservations and deposits online for new construction. That option is still available to this day, and you'd be surprised at how many people buy a house remotely after just seeing a virtual tour. How does your approach to employees influence compensation? The ultimate strategy for empowerment is making everyone a co-owner. Whenever employees own stock, it changes the way they think about their impact on the overall health of the company. It ties every decision they make to their own financial future. So, earlier this year we decided to launch a major employee ownership program. Instead of just 150 leaders getting equity, we granted shares to our entire workforce of about 3300, as part of their compensation. When the plan was announced, my inbox exploded with hundreds of thank you emails. I replied to all of them. I especially appreciated the folks who recognized that in a tough business climate, selling houses is not as easy as it was a few years ago. They realized that we didn't have to invest in our people this way, but we chose to. How do you deal with diversity, especially now that DEI is so controversial? The simple fact is that our customers have become increasingly diverse. Earlier in my career, about 70% of our home buyers were Caucasian, and now it's down to about 35%. So we have a clear business reason to hire people who understand our diverse customers. Changing demographics affect how we buy land, how we design communities, and how we market various amenities in our houses. For instance, Indian American families often want a separate entry leading to a space with a bedroom, bathroom, and kitchenette. They use that space for elderly parents who want some privacy while living with their kids and grandkids. Other kinds of customers want a similar space for adult children who need to live with them because of affordability challenges. So we need to stay aware as our customers' needs keep changing. One initiative I'm very proud of is the Taylor Morrison Board Fellows program, which we launched in 2022 to bring more diverse perspectives to our board of directors. We recruit leaders from all communities, who have unbelievably strong resumes, but have never had the chance to serve on or even observe a board. We give them a two-year paid fellowship to attend and participate in board meetings. They receive the same documents as our actual board members — the only thing they can't do is vote. These fellows have been extremely helpful because they see situations in ways the rest of us might miss, especially the consumer shifts I just mentioned. So having their experience and perspectives in our boardroom isn't charity — it's intelligence gathering. They add so much value. How has the financial community reacted to your multi-stakeholder initiatives? Early in my journey as CEO, I was reluctant to talk about our approach to stakeholders, knowing that Wall Street only cares about financial results. I didn't want to be seen as having a 'female' leadership style. Then we started delivering great results and winning Most Trusted Home Builder in America, year after year. So I started to sprinkle in more details about what we do to care for our people and love our customers. And the financial community started to appreciate those efforts — as long as we continue to hit our financial targets. A few years ago, during one of our quarterly investor calls, the collective light bulb really went off. Analysts started asking more questions about the intangibles that make Taylor Morrison different from our competitors. On my most recent investor call, I probably spent 20% of the time talking about how we're building communities, as opposed to just our metrics. Any final thoughts for leaders and aspiring leaders? I believe leadership is about being accessible, approachable, and authentic. You need to communicate in every way possible. So in addition to email and my road shows around the country, I do an internal video blog called "Shoes Off with Sheryl' because I like to get comfortable and kick my shoes off under the table. I offer straight talk about the state of our company and industry, as well as our strategy going forward. During a recent recording of 'Shoes Off with Sheryl,' I spoke about the results from our most recent employee engagement survey. They were great, but I noted that in an uncertain economy we can't take anything for granted. And we can never lose sight of the importance of treating everyone the right way. It's easy to forget this when we get stressed out. But we can't let adversity change the way we treat each other or the way we treat our customers. I believe in what's called The No Asshole Rule, after the book by Robert Sutton. Doing the right thing in every situation is our goal, and we don't tolerate bad behavior. But showing integrity and honesty are not the same as being soft or avoiding hard conversations or hard decisions. It just means treating everyone with respect. If you practice doing the right thing in every relationship, it starts to become automatic. And when you do the right thing for the right reasons, it almost always ends up helping the company as well.
Associated Press
an hour ago
- Associated Press
Dallas Property Owners Saw a Modest Residential Increase, while Commercial Grew Exponentially
O'Connor discusses how Dallas County property owners saw a modest residential increase, while commercial grew exponentially. DALLAS, TX, UNITED STATES, June 23, 2025 / / -- The Dallas Central Appraisal District has issued its proposed property valuations for the 2025 tax assessment cycle. In 2024, 36% of houses were overvalued. In 2025 the number of houses overvalued decreased by 28%, which provides relief to some homeowners. The average value of residential homes increased by 5.6%, whereas commercial real estate experienced a more notable rise of around 15.1%. These changes reflect the combined impact of both newly built properties and those already in existence. Residential Tax Assessment Increased in 2025 by 5.6% in Dallas County Residential properties exceeding $1.5 million experienced the highest growth, rising by 11.8% and reaching a projected market value of $69 billion in 2025. Notable appreciation was also seen in homes priced from $1 million to $1.5 million, which grew by 9.2%, while properties valued between $750,000 and $1 million saw a 6.2% increase. Homes valued less than $250k increased only by 1.2% In 2024, the total value of all properties—regardless of size—rose from $241 billion to $278 billion, marking a 15% increase. By contrast, 2025 saw a more modest overall growth of 5.6%, with values climbing from $274 billion to $290 billion. Larger properties over 8,000 square feet, which are generally higher in value, experienced a 10.4% increase—down from the 20.9% surge seen in 2024. Among single-family homes in Dallas County, the smallest value gains were recorded in properties under 2,000 square feet, which rose by just 2.8%. In the 2025 property tax reappraisals by the Dallas Central Appraisal District (CAD), homes constructed in 2021 or later saw the steepest increase in assessed value, rising by 29.6%. In contrast, for 2024, the highest assessments were recorded for properties without a listed construction year, categorized as 'others.' By 2025, this category saw a more moderate increase of 9.3%. The smallest growth was observed among homes built between 1981 and 2000, which experienced a modest 3.9% rise in assessed value. In 2024, Dallas CAD overvalued 52% of Dallas County homes. Fortunately, for homeowners this number went down to 28% and 9,361 houses were overvalued. Reports show that 72% or 23,770 houses were valued at market value or below. Commercial Property in Dallas County Significantly Increased by 15.1% Dallas County's commercial property assessments have experienced a substantial increase in all assessed value categories and value ranges during the 2025 tax year. The most significant growth was observed in commercial accounts valued at over $5 million, with a rate of 15.3%. Conversely, property priced below $500K experienced the lowest growth rate of 10.5%. Property valued between $1 million and $ 5 million saw a notable growth of 14.8%. It appears that the commercial property values of property owners in Dallas County have experienced substantial increases in 2025. Warehouses experienced the most significant increase in property values, rising by 21.2% from $7.834 billion to $9.493 billion. Conversely, the value of office buildings experienced the smallest increase of 10.6% in value. The commercial properties that were established in 2021 and subsequent years experienced the greatest recorded increase in value, with a gain of 68.8%, as opposed to 22.6% in 2024. The lowest growth was seen in commercial property built between 2001 and 2020 with 10.2%. Other property recorded with high increases includes those built before 1960 (19.8%) and built between 1961 to 1980 (15.1%). Gap Between Dallas CAD Valuations and Wall Street Market Outlook A notable discrepancy exists between the findings of Green Street Real Estate, a Wall Street firm, and the 2025 commercial property tax reassessment by Dallas CAD. While Dallas CAD reported a 15.1% increase in commercial property values, Green Street's analysis showed a sharp decline of 21.0%. Dallas County Apartment Property Increase The combined property tax evaluations for apartment complexes in Dallas County had an increase of 16.1% in 2025, slightly lower than the 23.1% in 2024. The most notable rise was seen in apartment complexes categorized as 'others,' seeing a 172.8% appreciation in value from $21 million to $57 million in the past year. The highest appreciation in value with a year-built category was seen buildings constructed in 2021 and later with 68.4%. In 2025, the property tax assessments for various sub-types of apartment complexes in Dallas County increased. The multi-family apartment accounts experienced the most substantial growth, increasing from $868k to $1.113 million, a 28.2% increase. Apartment gardens also saw a high increase of 20.2% and had a 2025 notice market value of $1.760 million. Dallas County Office Buildings Percentage Increase by Year Built The Dallas CAD appears to have made the most significant increase for office property with a year built assigned. The year range of offices constructed in 2021 and later showed a tremendous increase of 69.2%. The office buildings built between 2001 and 2020 also saw a notable increase, with a rise of 8.7%. This 'others' category stayed consistent at $612,530 in market value and had no increase. The average growth of assessed value for all categories of construction years has been around 10.6%. For office building in Dallas County, there are only two sub-types. Out of the two, regular office buildings had the greatest increase of 10.9%, growing in market value from $31 billion to $34 billion. Medical offices saw a growth of 8.9% with a notice market value in 2025 of $3.950 billion. Dallas CAD Retail Tax Assessments Up by 14% Statistically, the property tax assessments for retail buildings in Dallas County have increased in all construction year categories. The retail buildings that were constructed in 2021 and later experienced the greatest level of assessment growth, with a 45.5% increase in value from $187 million to $273 million. Property built before 1960 also saw a high increase of 25%. This year, the assessed value of retail properties constructed between 1961 and 1980 increased by 10.0%, the lowest rate of growth in this section of the analysis. In 2025, the property tax assessments for retail property categories in Dallas County increased. The retail center experienced the lowest amount of assessed value, with a relatively low 11.1% growth rate in 2025 assessments. The retail properties in mall centers have experienced the most significant increase, with a 32% increase. Dallas CAD Warehouse Tax Assessments Up About 14% Between 2024 and 2025, property tax assessments for warehouse owners in Dallas County rose by an average of 21.2%. Warehouses built before 1960 experienced particularly strong appreciation, with their value climbing from $707 million to $938 million—a 32.7% increase. Similarly, warehouse properties without a recorded construction date saw a comparable market value jump of 31.4%. The Dallas Central Appraisal District reported a 21.2% overall rise in market values for two categories of warehouse properties. Both warehouse sub-types increased at very similar rates. Mini warehouses increased by 21.5% and regular warehouses increased by 21.2%. Tracking the Gap: Dallas Metro Home Value Growth vs. County Assessments In 2025, the Dallas Central Appraisal District (CAD) bumped up single-family home values by 5.6% — a noticeable slowdown from the 15.2% spike seen in 2024. Meanwhile, real-world market trends painted a much tamer picture. According to the MetroTex Association of Realtors, Dallas Metro home prices crept up by just 0.3%, even lower than the 1.9% rise recorded the previous year. The numbers suggest a growing divide between official assessments and actual market movement. A Fresh Look: 2025 Dallas CAD Property Tax Revaluation Summary In 2025, the Dallas Central Appraisal District (CAD) rolled out its latest property tax revaluations. Property values are on the rise across the board, but commercial real estate is leading the charge. Residential properties saw a modest 5.6% uptick, while commercial properties jumped a striking 15.1% in overall market value. When comparing the CAD figures to actual market trends, there's a noticeable gap. Dallas home prices only inched up by 0.3% between January 2024 and January 2025, casting some doubt on the accuracy of the CAD's 5.6% hike for homes. However, only 28% of properties are considered overvalued, with the majority—78%—falling at or below market value. About O'Connor: O'Connor is one of the largest property tax consulting firms, representing 185,000 clients in 49 states and Canada, handling about 295,000 protests in 2024, with residential property tax reduction services in Texas, Illinois, Georgia, and New York. O'Connor's possesses the resources and market expertise in the areas of property tax, cost segregation, commercial and residential real estate appraisals. The firm was founded in 1974 and employs a team of 1,000 worldwide. O'Connor's core focus is enriching the lives of property owners through cost effective tax reduction. Property owners interested in assistance appealing their assessment can enroll in O'Connor's Property Tax Protection Program ™. There is no upfront fee, or any fee unless we reduce your property taxes, and easy online enrollment only takes 2 to 3 minutes. Patrick O'Connor, President O'Connor + + +1 713-375-4128 email us here Visit us on social media: LinkedIn Facebook YouTube X Legal Disclaimer: EIN Presswire provides this news content 'as is' without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.
