Marketplace Morning Report Marketplace Morning Report

What's driving up the cost of buying a house?

Aug 3, 2026 · 6m

Summary

This episode examines rising mortgage rates, now at 6.66%, driven by inflationary pressures from the AI boom and geopolitical shocks. It also explores how AI-driven search results are reducing web traffic for publishers, threatening the open internet. Correspondents Mitchell Hartman and Megan McCarty Carino discuss the economic impacts on homebuyers and the shifting digital landscape for content creators.

Topics discussed

Rising mortgage rates and economic factors Optum healthcare advertisement Arizona State University online programs Google's AI search and revenue growth Impact of AI summaries on website traffic Google's response to traffic loss claims Challenges for smaller publishers and Wikipedia Proposed solutions for internet monetization Closing remarks and listener questions
Listen ad-free on Castria