Home prices can always get more ridiculous

This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a rest-area shed of Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. Sign up here.Today’s Agenda What if the housing bubble ju [Bloomberg]( Follow Us [Get the newsletter]( This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a rest-area shed of Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. [Sign up here](. Today’s Agenda - What if the [housing bubble just never pops](? - Twitter put a [Twitter troll on its board](. - The SEC is [sleepwalking into climate trouble](. - Paying workers is [better than buying back stock](. Source: Holderness Family Vlogs on YouTube Source: Holderness Family Vlogs on YouTube Just How Ridiculous Is Housing? An [amusing video]( about housing has been blowing up suburban New Jersey social media recently. In it, a harried real-estate agent pushes a client to buy a house sight-unseen and rues losing a bidding war for a shed by an interstate rest area that “went for $150,000 over asking.” She also discusses a “pocket listing,” where somebody sells their house without even putting it on the market. But here’s the thing, dear reader: Just a day after I first saw this video, I heard a story about a real-life pocket listing. A person thought they had managed to buy an unlisted house. But the seller changed their mind, put the house on the market, and immediately got $200,000 over asking from a different person. The housing market is ludicrous, is what I’m saying. But can we call it a bubble? Ha ha, yes, of course we can. The Dallas Fed [recently did](, in fact, saying that by at least one measure, prices relative to rent, it’s starting to look as frothy as it did in the 2000s. But Aaron Brown isn’t so sure. He invites us to consider the possibility that maybe all these people fighting each other over dumps and rest-area sheds [expect a future in which home prices just keep going up](. With new supply virtually nonexistent and demand unwavering, maybe these ludicrous prices are the best deals people will get for a long, long time. That would be a relief to those of us who own homes, and the opposite of relief for those of us looking to buy them. In the meantime, I have a New Jersey shed for sale. Or do I? Elon Musk Runs Twitter Now, Apparently? Yesterday Elon Musk announced he had bought a 9.2% stake in Twitter, making himself its biggest shareholder, using an SEC filing [reserved]( for investors who plan to be passive. Nobody believed the passive part. Sure enough, today Twitter announced it had a new board member: Elon Musk. Maybe Musk is just the visionary Twitter needs to finally leave the 2000s behind, writes Timothy L. O’Brien. Or maybe Twitter has just [given its most infamous troll a board seat](. Musk has used the platform to attack critics and spread [prejudice]( and [misinformation](. He even compared Twitter’s CEO to Joseph Stalin: To which Twitter’s CEO responded: [Welcome]( to the team! As for that SEC filing, Musk still has time to fix his paperwork, Matt Levine notes. Even then, the agency with which Musk has feuded for years (often on Twitter) will have [many questions about how and when he bought these shares](. The SEC’s Brewing Climate Nightmare In this age of ESG investing, more and more shareholders want climate-risk disclosures sprinkled in with the usual stuff about sales and earnings and CEO jets and whatnot. President Joe Biden’s SEC wants to make this a thing all public companies must do, in fact. That might sound perfectly reasonable to you. Then again, you are probably not the United States Supreme Court (apologies if you are). That august body will [likely torpedo the new SEC rules](, warns former SEC commissioner Joseph Grundfest, because Congress has given only the EPA the right to force such disclosures. Before it’s too late, the SEC should team up with the EPA on this. That will not only keep the hope of such disclosure alive but expand it to private companies, where some of the worst climate risks have been scurrying to hide. Telltale Charts Starbucks investors are moaning about it, but CEO-again Howard Schultz is [right to shift money from stock buybacks]( to paying staffers more, writes Andrea Felsted. In case Starbucks investors haven’t heard, it’s a hot job market. Contra Wall Street lore, there’s [no evidence rising interest rates hurt growth stocks]( more than value stocks, writes Nir Kaissar. In fact, the whole relationship between rates and stock prices is pretty iffy. Further Reading Even if the Fed manages a soft landing for the economy, it [could still wreck the bond market]( as it has done more than once. — Marc Rubinstein Mexico stands to [benefit massively from de-globalization](. If only it were ready. — John Authers  It’s still far too easy for [shady rich people to obscure their wealth](. — Paul Davies Google’s DeepMind division tried to [keep workers from discussing harassment]( and bullying. — Parmy Olson Carrie Lam is going, but [Beijing’s heavy hand is never leaving]( Hong Kong. — Matthew Brooker [Japan needs to open back up]( to tourists or risk losing global relevance and dollars. — Gearoid Reidy ICYMI The U.S. and EU are firing off [new Russia sanctions](. Vladimir Putin’s [daughters]( could be next. Peru was [rocked by inflation protests](. The Fed may start [shrinking its balance sheet]( next month. Kickers “Stolen” Charles [Darwin notebooks returned]( to Cambridge 22 years later. (h/t Scott Kominers) Scientists may have found a “[model octopus” that doesn’t die]( after breeding. (h/t Alistair Lowe) Fish [can learn math](. Retiring is so 2021. The hot [new thing is coasting](. Notes: Please send stolen notebooks and complaints to Mark Gongloff at mgongloff1@bloomberg.net. [Sign up here]( and follow us on [Instagram](, [TikTok](, [Twitter]( and [Facebook](. Like Bloomberg Opinion Today? [Subscribe to Bloomberg.com and get much, much more](. You’ll receive our unmatched global news coverage and two in-depth daily newsletters, The Bloomberg Open and The Bloomberg Close.  Before it’s here, it’s on the Bloomberg Terminal. Find out more about how the Terminal delivers information and analysis that financial professionals can’t find anywhere else. [Learn more](. You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Bloomberg Opinion Today newsletter. 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