Consumer

When mortgage rates were near historic lows in 2021 and 2022, Portland buyers stretched into the city’s outer neighborhoods to get more house for less money. That trade-off made sense when borrowing was almost free. Now, with rates still elevated, according to Scott Edelman, a Realtor with Sold by Scott, homes on Portland’s edges are ...

In parts of upstate New York, a brand-new home costs about the same as monthly rent, or less. That reality surprises buyers who assume new construction means $800,000-plus price tags, according to Sarah Itterman, a Realtor with Sterling Real Estate Group, an independent brokerage based north of Albany that has been voted the top independent ...

Florida already attracts buyers with no state income tax. A ballot measure expected in late 2026 could add another financial incentive: a homestead exemption that jumps from $50,000 to $250,000, according to Tony Baroni, Founder & Team Leader of The Tony Baroni Team at Keller Williams Realty. For anyone considering a move to the state, ...

For the past few years, buyers shopping for cottage cluster homes in Portland, Oregon faced a strange tradeoff: newer, efficient homes in walkable neighborhoods, but often tiny, sometimes under 800 square feet. That cramped footprint wasn’t a design choice. It was a direct result of the city’s fee structure, which forced developers to build small. ...

Some property managers on Florida’s Space Coast are giving landlords a counterintuitive recommendation: price your unit slightly below what you think it’s worth. The local rental market isn’t seeing dramatic vacancies, but units also aren’t renting instantly. The argument is that tenant quality and turnover costs matter more than squeezing a few extra percentage points ...

The listed price on a new-construction home north of Dallas often understates what buyers will actually pay each month. A growing number of developments sit outside city limits – technically in Collin County – where a special taxing structure called a Municipal Utility District adds a cost layer that catches many relocating buyers off guard. ...

The skilled-trade shortage in U.S. construction has persisted for years, but the industry’s response is taking a specific new form: developers are moving production into factories, and those factories are increasingly being built on American soil. For buyers in markets where labor constraints have slowed new housing and driven up prices, domestic factory production could ...

In almost every industry where technology takes hold, prices eventually fall. Streaming made music cheaper. Digital distribution made books cheaper. Software automation made banking cheaper. But in construction, AI is breaking the pattern – and the people paying for new buildings are the ones left out. The efficiency gains from AI in construction are flowing ...

High-end apartment buildings in Nashville, Austin, and Dallas are struggling to fill units. At the same time, renters in those cities report spending a larger share of their income on housing than ever before. The disconnect is not a paradox. It reflects what got built during the last development cycle and who can afford it. ...

The days when scarce inventory alone justified a seller’s asking price in Naples, Florida, are fading. According to Michael Downer, founder and realtor with the Quintessential Naples Team at Downing-Frye Realty, Inc., buyers have shifted from competing on speed to competing on scrutiny. Sellers who haven’t documented their improvements are watching their listings sit. During ...

A low monthly HOA fee looks like savings. In practice, it often signals deferred maintenance. A large, unavoidable bill is heading toward the owners. Thomas Beattie is Co-Founder and CEO of Eli Report, an AI-powered condo and HOA document review platform based in Vancouver, Canada. Over more than six years, his team has reviewed the ...

One of the biggest reasons long-term California homeowners never sell is property taxes. After decades in the same house, their assessed value – and therefore their annual tax bill – sits far below what a new purchase would trigger. Moving means resetting to current market value, which in many Inland Empire communities means jumping from ...

Two years ago, buying a home in Corona, California felt like a sprint: tour a house, make an offer that afternoon, hope not to get outbid by a half-dozen other buyers. That urgency is gone. Homes that aren’t priced aggressively now sit on the market for roughly two months, according to Shelly Larez, a real ...

The pitch sounds compelling: buy a condo near the ocean in South Florida, rent it out, and let tenants cover your costs while the property appreciates. But the math on South Florida condos as rental investments is broken at current price levels, according to Stuart Berger, Team Co-Lead of the Stu Berger and Ana Aizenstat ...

A decade ago, a real estate investor seeking a private bridge loan needed one thing: a property with enough equity. The building was the security, and that was sufficient. Today, private lenders who have absorbed years of defaults and litigation say they have inverted that priority. The borrower’s credit history, track record, and transparency now ...