Russia “would be happy to” facilitate the signing of a peace treaty between longtime foes Armenia and Azerbaijan, President Vladimir Putin said during talks with his Azerbaijani counterpart on…
Day: March 28, 2026
By Eurasianet – Mar 27, 2026, 1:00 PM CDT
- The western branch of the North-South corridor continues functioning with minimal disruption despite ongoing airstrikes.
- Azerbaijan has acted as a crucial intermediary, briefly halting but quickly restoring cross-border trade flows.
- The route is strategically significant, supporting both commercial trade and suspected military transfers between Russia and Iran.
All the bombs dropped by the United States and Israel over the past four weeks on Iran have not disrupted a key trade route with Russia that both Tehran and Moscow rely on to help keep their respective war efforts going. And Azerbaijan, despite its strong ties to both the United States and Israel, has played a crucial role in keeping the route open.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk, in comments published by the Interfax news agency on March 25, said the “western branch” of the North-South trade corridor continued to operate normally in Iran, in spite of the US-Israeli bombing campaign.
“We are monitoring the statistics, and they are, in principle, normal,” Overchuck said. “There was a two-day interruption (…), but we are very grateful to the Azerbaijani side in this regard; the issue was resolved promptly in cooperation with the Government of Azerbaijan, allowing our drivers to return to Russia via Azerbaijani territory.”
The interruption mentioned by Overchuk could have been connected to a March 5 Iranian drone attack on Azerbaijan’s Nakhchivan exclave. Azerbaijani authorities briefly closed the land border with Iran to truck transport immediately after that attack, but soon reopened checkpoints to commercial traffic.
“Everything is currently operating in normal mode. Everything at the border is proceeding as usual,” Overchuck said. He added that plans to build a railway link that would enable a significant expansion of North-South trade, known as the Rasht-Astara Line, was proceeding according to schedule. With financial and planning details in place, construction on the 160-kilometer route was slated to begin in April.
In addition to facilitating trade in foodstuffs and durable goods, the North-South trade route’s west branch is widely believed to facilitate the transfer of weaponry between Russia and Iran. Since mid-2025, Russia has reportedly used the route to transfer air-defense systems, radars, and other equipment to Iran. Earlier in the Russia-Ukraine war, the North-South corridor was reportedly used to supply Russia with Iranian-made drones.
The aerial war conducted by the United States and Israel has placed Azerbaijan in a delicate geopolitical situation, given that Iran sits on its southern border and Russia is to the north. Baku has attempted to remain on the sidelines of the conflict, not wanting be perceived as siding with any of the combatants.
By Eurasianet
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Home buyers have gained even more leverage over sellers as housing market supply continues to overwhelm tepid demand.
In February, there were 46.3% more sellers than buyers, representing a gap of 629,808, the largest in Redfin’s records going back to 2013, the real estate company said in a report on Monday.
The latest number is up 30% from a year earlier, when the mismatch was 449,409. And recently as October, it was 528,769 people.
According to Redfin, a buyer’s market is when there are over 10% more sellers than buyers. And by this definition, buyers have held the advantage since May 2024.
That came after the Federal Reserve’s most aggressive rate-hiking cycle in four decades, sending mortgage rates higher as central bankers scrambled to bring down inflation.
The result was a sharp unwinding of the seller’s market that saw home prices and sales boom in the aftermath of the COVID pandemic.
But even though the Fed began reducing rates two years ago, the housing market has largely been frozen as the “lock-in effect” prevented homeowners with low mortgage rates from putting their properties up for sale. The tight supply also lifted home prices, adding to the spiraling housing affordability crisis.
President Donald Trump’s Iran war has only made things worse. Fears that high oil prices will accelerate inflation while more defense spending widens the deficit have spiked Treasury yields, lifting borrowing costs throughout the economy.
That includes mortgage rates, which have jumped to their highest levels since October. With homeownership now even more expensive, mortgage application volume plunged 10.5% last week from the prior week. That’s an ominous sign for the upcoming spring selling season.
“Of course, it’s only a buyer’s market for those who can afford to buy,” Redfin pointed out. “High housing costs and economic uncertainty have caused many house hunters to retreat, creating an imbalance of buyers and sellers.”
The number of homebuyers in the fell 2.4% month over month in February to about 1.36 million. Meanwhile, the number of sellers dipped just 0.4% to an estimated 1.99 million.
The strongest buyer’s market last month was Miami, where sellers outnumbered buyers by 163%. That was followed by Nashville (120%), Austin (112%), West Palm Beach (110%) and San Antonio (104%).
After many Sun Belt cities saw an influx of people during the remote-work heyday of the pandemic, builders rushed to add more supply. But the affordability crisis has weighed on demand, leaving many cities with a hangover of excess supply.
In another indication of how much the housing market favors buyers, a separate batch of Redfin data showed canceled contracts hit a record high for February.
More than 42,000 U.S. home-sale agreements fell through last month, or 13.7% of homes that went under contract, marking the highest February share in records dating back to 2017. That’s also up from 12.8% a year earlier.
Cancelations happen when buyers see better homes and back out during the inspection period or when a they dont want to repair an issue that comes up after signing contracts. Other times, they just get cold feet and assume an even more desirable property will eventually become available.
“House hunters are also feeling jittery because of economic and geopolitical uncertainty,” Redfin said. “Many Americans are concerned about job security, inflation, the Iran war, and other world events that can make their finances feel shaky.”
The post There are now nearly 50% more home sellers than buyers as mismatch widens to a record 630,000. But it’s only a buyer’s market if you can afford it appeared first on azeritimes.com.