Min 1: First-time homebuyers essentially vanished from the housing market in 2025. National Association of REALTORS® research shows they accounted for just 21% of home purchases—an all-time low in the data they track. That's a stunning collapse. Rising home prices combined with elevated mortgage rates pushed record
Min 1: The housing market's biggest problem isn't mortgage rates anymore—it's job insecurity. Compass Chief Economist Mike Simonsen calls it "The Great Stay," where homeowners hold onto both their jobs and houses because they lack confidence about finding employment elsewhere. Unemployment
Min 1: Luxury real estate is having a moment. Manhattan luxury sales hit nearly $12 billion across more than 1,400 contracts in 2025—an 11% year-over-year increase according to recent market reports. That momentum is accelerating into early 2026. In a single week in February, Manhattan agents recorded multiple
Min 1: Rental property investors just got a major tax break for 2026. The qualified business income (QBI) deduction under Section 199A lets eligible landlords deduct up to 20% of their rental income according to new IRS guidance issued February 20, 2026. Here's the catch: you must operate
Min 1: Home insurance costs are hitting homeowners harder than almost any other expense. Premiums increased 24% between 2021 and 2024 according to the Consumer Federation of America—outpacing inflation by 11% over the same period. The national average now sits at $2,544 annually for a policy with $300,
Min 1: Foreclosure activity just hit its 11th consecutive month of year-over-year increases. Total filings reached 40,534 properties in January 2026—up 32% from January 2025 according to ATTOM data released in February. Here's the bigger story: completed foreclosures jumped 59% year-over-year. Banks repossessed 4,714 properties
Min 1: Homeowners just got their cheapest access to home equity in over three years. HELOC rates fell to 7.23% while home equity loan rates dropped to 7.44% according to Curinos data from late February—the lowest levels since late 2022. Some lenders are going even lower with
Min 1: New home construction ended 2025 on a surprisingly strong note. Housing starts jumped 6.2% in December to an annual pace of 1.4 million homes according to Census Bureau data released last week—beating all analyst estimates. This came after a 3.9% increase in November. Two
Min 1: Real estate technology just had its biggest funding month in years. Venture capital firms poured $1.7 billion into proptech companies in January 2026 alone—a 176% increase from January 2025 according to the Center for Real Estate Technology & Innovation. This isn't a one-month fluke.
Min 1: Apartment vacancy rates hit record highs in early 2026 as supply overwhelmed demand. The national multifamily vacancy rate reached 7.3% according to Apartment List—the highest level since the index launched in 2017. Rents barely budged with the national average increasing to $1,716 in February—up
Min 1: Housing affordability hit crisis levels in 2026 with 65% of U.S. households unable to afford a median-priced new home. NAHB's latest analysis showed 88.2 million households are completely priced out of the market at current levels. The median new home price sits at $413,
Min 1: The extend-and-pretend strategy banks used for years just ended. Lenders are calling in billions in troubled commercial real estate loans and default rates hit record highs in January 2026. Trepp data showed over 12% of office loans became delinquent—meaning borrowers failed making payments on time. The firm