Raphael Stevens

Million-dollar homes are more likely to be found in metropolitan areas on the coasts, according to a LendingTree report.
If you’re selling a high-dollar property, you may risk triggering a bill for capital gains taxes.

Historic row houses in Columbia Heights neighborhood of Washington.
amedved | iStock | Getty Images

Million-dollar homes aren’t common in the U.S., but you’re more likely to find these properties along the coasts.
That’s according to a LendingTree study that ranked the country’s 50 biggest metropolitan areas by the share of owner-occupied properties worth $1 million or more.

The average share of million-dollar owner-occupied homes in the 50 biggest metros is 4.71%. But in San Jose, California, 52.89% are worth $1 million or more, and in San Francisco, 40.37% are.
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Other metros with the highest share of million-dollar properties included Los Angeles, San Diego, New York, Seattle, Boston, Washington, Miami and Denver.
By comparison, places like Buffalo, New York; Cleveland and Pittsburgh had the smallest share of million-dollar homes, representing less than 1% of owner-occupied properties.

Metros with the most million-dollar homes

San Jose, California: 52.89%
San Francisco: 40.37%
Los Angeles: 18.55%
San Diego: 13.52%
New York: 10.53%

Metros with the fewest million-dollar homes

Buffalo, New York: 0.56%
Cleveland: 0.59%
Pittsburgh: 0.67%
Columbus, Ohio: 0.73%
Cincinnati: 0.78%

The findings come amid growing concerns about housing affordability as mortgage rates spike. 

The median home listing price nationwide reached a record $450,000 in June, up nearly 17% from the previous year, according to Realtor.com. Many Americans also have less buying power than a year ago, with 30-year fixed-rate mortgages hovering around 6% for so-called conforming loans of $647,200 or less.
Indeed, rising interest rates have cost homebuyers on a $3,500 monthly budget $165,000 in spending power since the end of 2021, a Redfin report found.

How to limit tax bills when selling a high-priced home

While home sale profits are considered capital gains, there’s a $250,000 exemption for single filers and $500,000 for married couples filing together, assuming you meet certain requirements. One of the main rules to qualify is you must own and use the home as a primary residence for two of the five years before the sale.
If your profits exceed these exemption thresholds or you don’t qualify, there are ways to reduce the tax burden.  
Leslie Beck, a certified financial planner and owner of Compass Wealth Management in Rutherford, New Jersey, said many homeowners don’t realize that property improvements can be added to the home’s cost basis, or purchase price, to reduce capital gains. 

Some examples may include home additions, patios, landscaping, new systems and more, according to the IRS. But ongoing repairs and maintenance, such as painting or fixing leaks, don’t count.
“It’s helpful to have receipts to document these improvements,” said Thomas Scanlon, a CFP and CPA at Raymond James in Manchester, Connecticut. “If you don’t have them, get a copy of the permit needed to do the work.”

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Sustainable Energy

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Scottish engineering firm Orbital Marine Power said Monday it secured £8 million ($9.64 million) in funding to “finance the ongoing operation” of its O2 tidal turbine, in another step forward for the fledgling tidal power sector.
The company describes the O2, which uses 10-meter blades and started grid-connected power generation last year, as “the world’s most powerful tidal turbine.”
Scotland has in recent years become a hub for companies and projects focused on tidal power and marine energy in general.

Orbital Marine Power’s O2 turbine at the Orkney Islands, north of the Scottish mainland, in September 2021. Scotland has become a hub for companies and projects focused on tidal power and marine energy in general.
William Edwards | AFP | Getty Images

Scottish engineering firm Orbital Marine Power said Monday it secured £8 million ($9.64 million) in funding to “finance the ongoing operation” of its O2 tidal turbine, in another step forward for the fledgling tidal power sector.
In an announcement, Orbital Marine Power said £4 million had come from the Scottish National Investment Bank, which was set up by the Scottish government in November 2020. The other £4 million comes from Abundance Investment, through more than 1,000 individual investors.

“These debt facilities will be serviced by the long-term sale of electricity from the turbine, forecast at around 100 gigawatt hours of clean predictable energy, delivered to the UK grid or hydrogen electrolysers over its project life,” Orbital said.
According to Orbital Marine Power, its 2-megawatt O2 weighs 680 metric tons and has a 74-meter hull structure. The company describes the O2, which uses 10-meter blades and started grid-connected power generation last year, as “the world’s most powerful tidal turbine.”
Mark Munro, executive director at the SNIB, said its investment in Orbital aligned with its “mission to support home-grown innovation and the just energy transition.”
“The company’s unique and scalable approach to tidal stream energy has an important role to play in the journey towards net zero,” Munro added.

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Scotland has had a long association with North Sea oil and gas production, but in recent years it’s also become a hub for companies and projects focused on tidal power and marine energy in general.

Orkney, an archipelago in waters north of mainland Scotland, is home to the European Marine Energy Centre. At EMEC, wave and tidal energy developers can test and assess their technology in the open sea. Orbital’s O2 turbine is at an EMEC site.
Last year, New York-listed TechnipFMC, which supplies technology to the energy sector, announced a strategic investment in Orbital Marine Power.

Europe’s energy transition

European installations of tidal and wave energy capacity jumped in 2021, as the ocean energy sector saw deployments revert to pre-pandemic levels and a substantial increase in investment.
In March, Ocean Energy Europe said 2.2 megawatts of tidal stream capacity was installed in Europe last year, compared with just 260 kilowatts in 2020. For wave energy, 681 kW was installed in Europe in 2021, which OEE said was a threefold increase on 2020.
Globally, 1.38 MW of wave energy came online in 2021, while 3.12 MW of tidal stream capacity was installed.
While there is excitement about the potential of marine energy, the overall size of tidal stream and wave projects remains very small compared with other renewables.
In 2021 alone, Europe installed 17.4 gigawatts of wind power capacity, according to figures from industry body WindEurope. More

The number of cities restricting local movement due to Covid more than doubled in a week to 11 as of Monday, up from five a week earlier, according to Ting Lu, chief China economist at Nomura.
Many of the new cases are in the region around Shanghai.
Last week, a small region called Si county in the neighboring province of Anhui ordered residents to stay in their homes, and leave only at designated times for virus testing.

Covid-related restrictions tightened in parts of China as local cases climbed, while lighter measures such as virus testing linger on in Shanghai, pictured here on July 3, 2022.
Qilai Shen | Bloomberg | Getty Images

BEIJING — Just days after China relaxed some Covid controls, virus cases in different parts of the country have put new regions on alert.
The number of cities restricting local movement more than doubled in a week to 11 as of Monday, up from five a week earlier, according to Ting Lu, chief China economist at Nomura.

The latest measures affect regions that account for about 14.9% of China’s GDP, up from 10.1% a week earlier, Nomura said.
Mainland China’s daily Covid case count, including those without symptoms, has surged from a handful of cases to around 200 or 300 new cases in the last several days. Most are asymptomatic.
Many of the new cases are in the region around Shanghai. The nearby city of Wuxi in Jiangsu province said late Saturday that bars and gyms would need to close temporarily, while restaurants could only offer takeaway.
Last week, a far smaller region called Si county in the neighboring province of Anhui ordered residents to stay in their homes, and leave only at designated times for virus testing.

In June, Beijing and Shanghai tried to resume normal business activity after weeks of restrictions that had kept children out of schools and many restaurants essentially closed. The southeastern metropolis of Shanghai was by far hit the hardest and locked down for April and May.

Last week, mainland China cut the quarantine period for international travelers and close contacts of Covid cases. The country also changed a nationwide travel system that would theoretically make it easier to move within the country.
The daily Covid case count in Beijing and Shanghai has fallen to single digits or zero in the last several days.
“Markets could become a bit too complacent if they ignore the rebound of covid cases and underestimate the costs of persistent covid containment measures,” Nomura’s Lu said in a report Monday.

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In addition to new cases on the mainland in economic powerhouses like Jiangsu province, Lu noted the spread of Covid in nearby economies — evident in Hong Kong’s climbing case count and Taiwan’s daily average of more than 100 new deaths in the past week.
Mainland China has not reported new deaths from Covid for weeks.
“We have been in the upswing phase of China’s ‘Covid Business Cycle (CBC)’ since late May, thanks to a decline in the number of Covid-19 cases, the lifting of lockdowns and other easing of zero-Covid strategy (ZCS) restrictions, and stimulus measures,” he said. “However, another wave of Omicron could prompt a return to a downswing phase, even though the timing of such an occurrence is uncertain.”

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By midday Monday, fewer than 1,000 flights were delayed in the U.S.
Earlier in the weekend, airlines had canceled hundreds of flights while more than 10,000 were delayed.
Demand was expected to spike over the long weekend.

Lighted tunnel in the United Airlines terminal, O’Hare International Airport, Chicago Illinois.
Andrew Woodley | Universal Images Group via Getty Images

U.S. airline delays eased on Monday as weather improved, a relief for travelers and airlines as the July Fourth holiday weekend comes to an end.
As of Monday afternoon, about 1,200 U.S. flights were delayed and 183 were canceled, down from nearly 4,700 delays and more than 300 cancellations a day earlier, according to flight-tracking site FlightAware.

This year through July 3, 2.8% of the more than 4.1 million flights scheduled by U.S. airlines were canceled, up from 2.1% of the more than 4.74 million flights scheduled in the same period, according to FlightAware. And so far this year, 20.2% of flights were delayed, up from 16.7%.
about a fifth of U.S. airlines’ flights were delayed and 2.8% canceled, up from 2.1% canceled over the same period of 2019.
The weekend was key for airlines as executives expected a surge of travelers after more than two years of the Covid-19 pandemic. Passengers shelled out more for tickets as fares surpassed 2019 levels.
Industry staffing shortages, many the result of buyouts that airlines urged workers to take during the pandemic, have exacerbated routine challenges like bad weather.
U.S. airline executives will begin detailing their summer performances and providing updated outlooks for the year in quarterly reports starting midmonth. A big question is what happens after the summer-travel peak fades, as many children in the U.S. go back to school in August.

Airlines spent the last few weeks focusing on limiting summer travel disruptions. Delta Air Lines, JetBlue Airways, Southwest Airlines, United Airlines and others have trimmed their schedules to give themselves more room to recover when things go wrong, such as when thunderstorms hit major airline hubs over the weekend.
Airlines and federal transportation officials have pointed fingers at one another in recent days over the cause of the flight disruptions. Airlines blamed air traffic control for lengthy delays, while the FAA and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg lashed out at airlines for letting go of workers during the pandemic, despite billions in federal aid.
Buttigieg on Saturday said one of his own flights was canceled.
“The complexity of modern aviation requires everything to work in concert,” said Matt Colbert, who previously managed operations and strategies at several U.S. carriers and is the founder of consulting firm Empire Aviation Services.
Delta took the unusual step of allowing travelers to change their flights outside of the peak July 1-4 period if they can fly though July 8, without paying a difference in fare, in hopes customers could avoid some of the disruptions on the busiest days. Envoy Air, a regional carrier owned by American Airlines, offered pilots triple pay to pick up extra shifts in July, CNBC reported last month.

“Bring patience,” Colbert said. “The people working on the other side of the counter are frustrated, too.”

European travel has become chaotic with passengers at some of the biggest hubs facing long lines and baggage delays as the industry faces staffing issues and a surge in demand.
Scandinavian airline SAS on Monday said it would be forced to cancel half of its flights after pay talks with pilots’ union representatives broke down, setting off a strike. Meanwhile, the chief operating officer of low-cost airline easyJet resigned after recent waves of flight cancellations.

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It is a messy picture in many European hotspots as airlines and airports struggle to cope with pent-up travel demand after Covid lockdowns.
Thousands of flights have been cancelled and recent travelers have queued for hours at passport control and luggage collection at airports across Europe — and the issues are expected to drag on.
“The pace at which passengers have returned to the skies since the springtime has caught airlines a little bit by surprise, and airports too,” Alexander Irving, European transport analyst at AB Bernstein, told CNBC.

Some airlines and airports are struggling with the post-covid demand for travel.
Anadolu Agency | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

LONDON — Delays, cancellations and strikes. It’s been a messy time for many European tourist hotspots as airlines and airports struggle to cope with pent-up travel demand after Covid-19 lockdowns.
Thousands of flights have been cancelled and recent travelers have queued for hours at passport control and luggage collection at airports across Europe — and the issues are expected to drag on.

“Air travel this summer is fraught with uncertainty, both for passengers and airlines,” Laura Hoy, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, told CNBC via email.
“Long delays and cancellations are likely grating on consumers’ desire to travel while airlines toe a fine line between trying to grasp hold of the post-pandemic travel boom and preparing for the likely slowdown ahead as economic conditions deteriorate.”
According to aviation data firm Cirium, 400 flights were canceled in all U.K. airports between June 24 and June 30, representing an increase of 158% from the same seven days in 2019.
And that’s outside of the peak summer season — usually between July and early September in Europe.
London’s busiest airport, Heathrow, asked airlines last week to cut flights, as passenger numbers were above what it could cope with. Some passengers were unaware their flight had been canceled, while others complained about the long queues.

There will be disruption continuing into the summer.

Stephen Furlong
Stephen Furlong, senior industry analyst at Davy

Meanwhile, low-cost airline easyJet has cut thousands of flights over the summer in an attempt to minimize the risk of disorder. Its chief operating officer, Peter Bellew, resigned Monday, with the airline saying it remained “absolutely focused on our daily operation and continues to monitor this very closely, having taken pre-emptive action to build further resilience for the summer due to the current operating environment.”
Many have also faced travel issues in the U.S. as they looked to go away for the July 4 weekend, with more than 12,000 flights delayed and hundreds canceled.
And it’s unlikely that travel chaos will unwind in the coming months, according to Stephen Furlong, senior industry analyst at wealth manager Davy.
“There will be disruption continuing into the summer whether ATC [cargo] driven or ground handling or security staff or indeed self-inflicted labour issues from the airlines,” he added.
In France in June, a quarter of flights were canceled at the main airport in Paris due to a workers’ strike.
And more strike-induced disturbance could be on the way. British Airways is preparing for a staff strike in the coming weeks as workers demand that a 10% pay cut installed during the pandemic gets reversed. And Ryanair workers in Spain said over the weekend they would be striking for 12 days in July, pushing for better work conditions. In addition, in Sweden, Scandinavian Airlines said it would continue talks with pilots on Monday in an effort to avert a new strike.

What’s causing the disruption?

There are several reasons for the travel chaos and they are mostly industry-wide problems, rather than a country- or airline-specific issue.
“The pace at which passengers have returned to the skies since the springtime has caught airlines a little bit by surprise and airports too. They simply don’t have the staff right now that we would need for a full schedule summer,” Alexander Irving, European transport analyst at AB Bernstein, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” last week.
Many airlines, airport operators and other companies within the travel sector laid-off workers during the pandemic as their businesses ground to a halt. Many of these workers looked for opportunities elsewhere and have not returned to the sector, while others were pushed into early retirement.
“Ultimately, we need more staff,” Irving said.
In addition, it’s hard to attract new talent right now given changes in the labor market, such as the so-called Great Resignation — when workers chose to quit their jobs, often without another one lined up, in search for a better work-life balance.

Hiring new people is also a medium to long-term solution, as in many travel-related jobs there’s compulsory training before workers can start their jobs.
At the same time, many of those who stayed in the sector do not feel sufficiently compensated and have complained about their work conditions.
It “probably ultimately means paying people more and treating them slightly better,” Irving said about the labor issues and strikes.
At Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport, a group of cleaners, baggage handlers and security staff will be paid an additional 5.25 euros ($5.55) per hour this summer, according to Reuters. However, the same airport announced that it will be limiting its volume of passengers this summer, especially to reduce disruptions.
Other countries are also scrambling to improve the situations are their airports. In Spain, police are hiring more staff at some of the country’s busiest airports and Portugal is also increasing its border control staff.
“The response by most companies as the pandemic hit was to reduce capacity on the expectation for a sustained period of lower growth. However, the pandemic delivered a different outcome: one where the global economy was virtually switched off then switched back on within a short period of time,” Roger Jones, head of equities at London & Capital, told CNBC.

He said that on top of the labor market shortages, inflation is also an issue.
“Cost inflation, especially fuel and wages, is aggravating the situation and making it a really difficult operating environment, which is weighing on profitability,” he said via email.
Many airlines, including British Airways and Air France-KLM, received financial support from governments during the pandemic to avoid collapse. However, a number of unions and airlines are now demanding more help from governments to support the revival of the sector.
Despite the strikes, cancellations and other disruptions, some analysts are still positive about the sector and argue that the recent situation has been “overplayed.”
“I do feel though it’s overplayed by the media and the vast majority of flights are operating and on time. Ryanair, for example, while operating 115% of pre-Covid capacity have planned for this and have largely avoided disruption so far,” Davy’s Furlong said via email.

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