The housing market's exceptionalism is fading, Nathan writes.

Driving the news: After years of booming sales and prices, the market is "normalizing," Freddie Mac chief economist Sam Khater said today in a statement.

• His evidence: higher mortgage rates, rising supply and a declining pool of buyers.

Why it matters: Experts have been waiting for signs that the housing market is starting to cool off as the broader economy hits rockier terrain.

Context: The U.S. housing market last year experienced its highest one-year increase in home prices since at least the 1970s, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index.

• Prices rose 18.8% in 2021.
• And prices have continued their upward march in 2022, with Realtor.com reporting today that the median national home price reached an all-time high of $447,000 in May.

But, but, but: The rapid rise in mortgage rates over the last few months is quickly slowing things down.

• 30-year fixed mortgage rates are averaging 5.09%, up from 2.99% a year ago, according to Freddie Mac.
• In May, active housing inventory notched its first year-over-year increase in three years, Realtor.com reported today.

💭 Nathan's thought bubble: As an older millennial, the financial crisis trained me to think that housing prices that go up must come down. But this has the makings of a softer landing.

What we're watching: Whether sellers begin to lower their expectations.

• "In an early sign, the rate of sellers making price cuts accelerated in May," Realtor.com chief economist Danielle Hale said in a statement.

Tomorrow's jobs report is likely to mark a milestone: May could be the first month where more hours were worked in America than at the pre-pandemic height, Axios' Felix Salmon writes.

• Why it matters: Total employment in the U.S. is still significantly below its pre-pandemic level, but a rise in average weekly hours worked meant that total hours worked in April were just 0.2% below the old record.

🧘‍♀️ Lululemon raised sales and adjusted earnings expectations for the year. (CNBC)

📖 Amazon is halting sales of its Kindle devices in China. (Axios)

🚙 Ford is working with dealerships to transition to an online sales model for EVs. (TechCrunch)

Microsoft won't block efforts by its employees to unionize, putting it in stark contrast to other tech companies, Axios' Ina Fried reports.

Why it matters: The company's announcement comes amid a growing movement to unionize parts of the tech workforce and as Microsoft seeks to close a deal to purchase Activision Blizzard, some units of which have pursued unionization.

• "We’re not asking our employees to go form a union, but we will meet people where they are at," Microsoft president Brad Smith tells Ina.

Driving the news: In a just-published blog post, Smith said that the company is "committed to creative and collaborative approaches with unions when employees wish to exercise their rights and Microsoft is presented with a specific unionization proposal."

The big picture: Other large tech companies have been less open to union efforts.

• Amazon has used a variety of tactics to try to convince warehouse workers to vote against unionization, with mixed results.
• Apple has also been resisting recent efforts by retail workers to unionize.

Separately, Microsoft today cut guidance on both sales and earnings for the current quarter, citing unfavorable foreign exchange rates.

Go deeper.

"LeBron James is officially a billionaire," according to Forbes.

Why it matters: He’s the first active NBA player to achieve this net worth, Forbes reported today, after earning $121.2 million last year, Hope writes.

• Michael Jordan is the only other basketball billionaire, per Forbes. But it took him more than a decade after his retirement.

By the numbers: Off the court, James has raked in more than $900 million from endorsements, real estate ($80 million), and cash and other investments (more than $500 million), Forbes estimates. 

• On the court, he’s been paid more than $385 million by the Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Heat and Los Angeles Lakers.

“Admitting that you don’t know or that you need help professionally, psychologically or emotionally … it’s not a mark on your record, it’s just part of the story of life.”