With little change in the average mortgage rate expected over the coming weeks, home shoppers are seeing some positive signs as the market moves toward the traditional busy buying season. The latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS®), released by Freddie Mac Thursday, shows the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaging 6.16%, a one-basis-point increase from last…
Despite affordability remaining a market challenge, there are still refuge markets first-time homebuyers can access across the nation. A new Realtor.com® report took a crack at identifying these refuge markets, and made a list of the top markets for first-time homebuyers (age 25-34) in 2026. The rankings are based on the forecasted share of first-time…
CoStar, just under two years after launching what it described as the largest marketing campaign in real estate history to promote Homes.com, said yesterday that 2026 will see “meaningful moderation” in its investment in the portal, after some early stumbles sparked pushback from shareholders. In a press release, CoStar Founder and CEO Andy Florance promised…
People are always on the move. And in 2025, despite economic uncertainty and shifting market conditions, Americans continued to relocate, whether it be a new job, improved cost of living, to be closer to family or for lifestyle changes. Last week, United Van Lines released its most recent survey of movers, tracking which states people…
Stockholders of Compass and Anywhere Real Estate have overwhelmingly approved the proposed merger between the two real estate giants, clearing the way for the $1.6 billion deal to close as early as Friday, Jan. 9. At special stockholder meetings held Wednesday, Jan. 7, approximately 99% of votes cast at Compass’s meeting approved the proposal to…
A recent academic study analyzing Zillow Home Loans (ZHL)—funded by the portal’s rival, CoStar—offers a new analysis of how Zillow’s policies and practices allegedly affect consumers, on the heels of a class-action lawsuit claiming the company is violating antitrust laws through mortgage referrals. The aforementioned lawsuit put Zillow in the hot seat by alleging the…
While mortgage rates dropped to their lowest level since September, applications for home purchases were down nearly 10% from two weeks prior. Despite the mixed trends, mortgage watchers expect rates to remain at current levels with periods of increased refinances. According to the latest Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) report, the Market Composite Index—the measure of…
Editor’s note: In this two-part series, we take a look at how the buyer experience differs today from past years. Part 1 was a look back at how the process evolved to where it is now. Here, we review how tech has impacted everything, and the skills required to serve luxury-market clients. Information overload. The…
The post The Buyer Experience: Looking Back and Looking Forward, Part 2 appeared first on RISMedia.
Households headed by immigrants have accounted for roughly three-quarters of housing demand growth since 2010, but a new Harvard analysis suggests that trend may be ending—with significant implications for housing markets across the country. The Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University (JCHS) released revised projections forecasting 1.7 million fewer households in the U.S.…
Immigrant labor has become essential to both homebuilding and residential remodeling in top metro areas with the highest levels of building permits, according to new research from Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies (JCHS). The findings underscore the critical role that foreign-born workers play across the entire residential construction space—from new home construction to major…
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