Affordability

A fifty year mortgage will not solve affordability. It only buys time we do not actually have.

The recent interest in a fifty year mortgage says a lot about where the housing market is today. Buyers feel shut out, lenders are fighting for volume, and policymakers are searching for ways to make the math work. Extending the mortgage term to fifty years sounds like a bold solution, but it is really a […]

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Midwest dominates Zillow’s most popular housing markets of 2025

Home shoppers in 2025 gravitated toward more affordable, midsized U.S. cities, with Midwestern markets accounting for most of the country’s most popular places to buy, according to new data released by Zillow. Rockford, Illinois, ranked as the most popular housing market in the country, moving up from second place last year. And the Midwest accounted

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PadSplit expands co-living services to 4 new cities

Co-living marketplace PadSplit is expanding into four new U.S. markets: Portland, Oregon; Seattle, Sacramento and Nashville. Founded in 2017, PadSplit operates in more than 35 markets and has listed more than 28,000 rooms, housing 65,000-plus people. The company said it focuses on access and flexibility, with no minimum credit score or long-term lease required, allowing

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Study finds Zillow home estimates improve buyer, seller outcomes

A new study found that Zillow’s automated home valuation tool, the Zestimate, improves pricing efficiency in residential real estate transactions and delivers measurable benefits to buyers and sellers like. The research, published in Marketing Science — a peer-reviewed journal of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences — concluded that Zillow‘s tool reduces

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FirstHome IQ highlights financial literacy gaps among young homebuyers

FirstHome IQ says that millennials and Generation Z face significant gaps in financial knowledge and trust as they approach homebuying age, according to the group’s newly released 2025 Impact Report. The report outlines widespread uncertainty among younger homebuyers — noting that most never received formal financial literacy education. According to the findings, 93% of millennials

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Housing affordability challenges steepen in Q3

The housing market showed faint signs of near-term affordability improvement in late 2025, but it remains dramatically worse than it was before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to new research from Oxford Economics. In the third quarter, a household needed to earn $110,100 a year to afford to own a single-family home, including taxes and insurance.

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An action plan for condo affordability

In recent weeks, President Trump has increasingly focused on “affordability” as a top priority.   When it comes to housing, that means addressing homeownership affordability challenges, which are significant by historical standards.  According to a recent Report by the National Association of Realtors, “The share of first-time home buyers dropped to a record low of 21%,

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This May Be the Best Time To Buy a Brand-New Home

This May Be the Best Time To Buy a Brand-New Home

New home construction today is giving buyers something it feels like they haven’t gotten much lately: a real shot at both the home they want and the deal they need. More brand-new options are on the market right now, and builders are rolling out incentives that make these homes more affordable than many people expect.

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Homeownership remains top goal despite affordability concerns

Homeownership remains a top goal for Americans despite a challenging housing market, according to a new consumer survey from REMAX — highlighting affordability concerns, lifestyle priorities and community preferences as keys in shaping the plans of prospective buyers. Although 88% of respondents said they’re likely to purchase a home in 2026, 71% reported delaying plans

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