Min 1 The housing market just hit a milestone nobody's talking about, and it's going to reshape where smart money flows for the next 3-5 years. Annual home price growth slowed to just 0.7% in January 2026 according to the S&P Cotality Case-Shiller
Min 1 Something counterintuitive is happening in the mortgage market that's creating one of the clearest investment signals we've seen all year. The Mortgage Bankers Association reported on March 18, 2026 that its Refinance Index climbed 69% from the same week a year ago. That'
Min 1 On March 10, 2026, Idaho became the first state to effectively ban cities from regulating short-term rentals. The Idaho Senate passed HB 583 in a 23-12 vote after years of lobbying from Airbnb owners and the Idaho Association of Realtors. The bill now sits on Governor Brad Little&
Min 1 Something remarkable is happening in Manhattan that defies everything you're hearing about the national rental market. Manhattan rental inventory fell for the 24th straight month in February 2026 — the longest run ever recorded for New York City's priciest borough. That's two full
Min 1 Something unprecedented is happening across America right now. Legitimate taxpayer discontent over high property taxes is fueling a movement to significantly curtail or even eliminate the property tax in states like Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, North
Min 1 Rocket Companies closed its $14.2 billion acquisition of Mr. Cooper Group on October 1, 2025, and the mortgage industry hasn't been the same since. This wasn't your typical corporate merger. This was the largest independent mortgage deal in U.S. history — and it
Min 1: The FinCEN Residential Real Estate Reporting Rule went into effect March 1, 2026, requiring title companies to report specific types of non-financed residential real estate transfers to combat money laundering. The rule represents a significant expansion from previous Geographic Targeting Orders that applied only in select high-value markets—
Min 1: The U.S. Senate passed the bipartisan 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act on March 12, 2026 by a vote of 89-10, advancing one of the most significant federal efforts to address the nation's housing supply and affordability challenges in decades. The legislation would be the
Min 1: Florida's housing market reported more closed sales and more new pending sales in February compared to a year ago, while median prices continued to ease but at a slower pace according to Florida Realtors® data released March 16, 2026. Closed sales of single-family homes statewide totaled
Min 1: U.S. mortgage rates climbed sharply in the week ending March 12 as investors fret the economic impact of President Trump's war on Iran, undoing welcomed progress in housing affordability. The average rate of a standard 30-year fixed mortgage hit 6.11% according to Freddie Mac&
Min 1: Commercial real estate property stocks are trading at their biggest discount to U.S. equities in 20 years according to CRE Daily analysis. After several years of sharp declines and underperformance, U.S. commercial real estate is starting to look like a bargain as average property values remain
Min 1: Nearly 40,000 home-sale agreements nationwide were canceled in January 2026, equal to 13.7% of homes that went under contract that month according to Redfin analysis of MLS pending-sales data. That's up from 13.1% a year earlier and marks the highest January share in
Min 1: President Trump signed an executive order in January 2026 titled "Stopping Wall Street from Competing with Main Street Homebuyers" and pushed Congress to make it permanent. Bipartisan legislation followed within weeks—Senators Josh Hawley and Jeff Merkley introduced the Homes for American Families Act that would
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,