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☆ Housing Market Ice Age: Fewer Sales, Higher Home Prices, Less Inventory
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-24 | by ( James Rodriguez | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

The result is a housing market that's fundamentally out of whack. The housing market has changed for good — and with the benefit of time-earned wisdom, we can pinpoint the moment it entered a new era. Two big things happened during the initial response to the pandemic that launched the housing market past the point of no return. Both factors have propelled competition in the housing market to new heights and made it challenging for would-be buyers to find their footing. Some aspects of the pandemic-era housing market that once seemed "odd" are increasingly becoming new norms.

☆ The Real Reason Rent Costs Are Sky High: People Left Their Roommates
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( James Rodriguez | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Though rent growth has slowed in recent months, renters in large cities are still feeling the effects of the 2021-22 rent boom. Residents of these places are now asking the question: If so many people left, why is my rent still so expensive? The first was outbound migration, which led to weaker housing demand in city centers. "High house prices, high rents, and rising interest rates are probably pushing back against household formation," Ozimek told me. If more employees keep adopting remote work — which, I'll admit, is a big "if" — that indicates housing demand is bound to increase.

☆ Real estate agents are tacking ludicrous 'junk fees' on to every home purchase
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( James Rodriguez | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +15 min

The fee goes by many names: an administrative fee, a transaction fee, or even a "regulatory compliance" fee. Despite the controversy, all signs indicate that brokerages large and small have increasingly embraced the admin fee in recent years. The vast majority of real-estate agents are independent contractors who rely on commissions to earn a living. Admin fees may be one of the most polarizing topics among real-estate agents today. "I'm in a place in my business right now where I can justify paying that," the Las Vegas agent told me.

☆ An explosion of hidden 'junk fees' is making every home more expensive
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( James Rodriguez | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +15 min

☆ Real-Estate Agents Face a Reckoning As Housing Market, Home Sales Slow
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( James Rodriguez | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +14 min

Just as the housing market goes through booms and busts, so do the ranks of real-estate agents. This has left real-estate agents fighting over a dwindling pool of listings. That makes the job of a local real-estate agent trickier and more nuanced than it was a year ago. "What makes a good real-estate agent and what makes a successful real-estate agent have almost no crossover." She joined a women's support group for real-estate agents on Facebook, where she found many others were experiencing similar challenges.

☆ Boomers Are Buying up Homes, Blocking Millennials From Housing Market
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( James Rodriguez | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

The housing market is not a generation-versus-generation cage match. "So the fact that they are now trailing behind the baby boomer population just speaks to the difficulty of the housing market today." A lot has changed in the housing market since the NAR's survey period. In a housing market of "haves" and "have nots," equity-rich homeowners have the edge over hopeful first-time buyers. Millennials know that they have time on their side, since boomers will eventually age out of the market entirely.

☆ After interviewing dozens of real estate investors, I've learned that it's more affordable to become one than you may think. The one strategy that many of them use to afford their first property is ca
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Kathleen Elkins | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Buying real estate can be a daunting and expensive process, but it's not impossible. A handful of successful real estate investors afforded their first property by "house hacking." A couple with a combined $100,000 in debt and social-worker salaries explained to me how buying real estate actually helped them pay down their debt. "It's the most inexpensive way to buy real estate," 28-year-old property owner Avery Heilbron, who afforded his first property by house hacking, told Insider. The aforementioned couple who got into real estate investing despite six-figures worth of debt also did so by house hacking.

☆ The battle over Airbnb has hit a breaking point
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( James Rodriguez | Dan Latu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +16 min

"We started panicking and started connecting with other folks who we know have short-term rentals," Sullivan told Insider. Rather than a collapse of the industry, the increasingly bifurcated state of the market — a bust for some, a boom for others — is a clear sign that we have hit a turning point in the long-running battle over short-term rentals. Given the sharp rise of short-term rentals there, some local lawmakers have recently called for amending the law. Investors jumped in to capitalize on the boom, and the market soon became saturated with short-term rentals. There's one thing pretty much everyone can agree on: Short-term rentals are here to stay.

☆ The 'Airbnbust' proves the Wild West days of online vacation rentals are over
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( James Rodriguez | Dan Latu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +16 min

"We started panicking and started connecting with other folks who we know have short-term rentals," Sullivan told Insider. Given the sharp rise of short-term rentals there, some local lawmakers have recently called for amending the law. But short-term rentals are often essential to a healthy tourism economy, particularly in vacation destinations. Investors jumped in to capitalize on the boom, and the market soon became saturated with short-term rentals. There's one thing pretty much everyone can agree on: Short-term rentals are here to stay.

☆ Gen Z Investing in Real Estate, Buying Homes Early, Learning From Millennials' Mistakes
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( James Rodriguez | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +14 min

Unlike millennials before them, Gen Zers have grown up during a boom in home prices. In a 2020 survey by Gen Z Planet, a research and advisory firm, 87% of Gen Z respondents said they wanted to own a home in the future, while just 63% of millennial respondents said the same. The survey suggested that 68% of Gen Zers viewed homeownership as a way to build wealth, compared with 60% of millennials. But the ranks of Gen Z homeowners will almost certainly grow in the coming years as they scale corporate ladders and amass savings. All this new technology and information is fueling the real-estate-mogul dreams of ambitious Gen Z investors.

The case for falling rentSomething strange is happening in the apartment market. More than 971,000 apartment units were under construction across the US at the end of 2022, the second-largest number on record. There's only so much people are willing to pay,'" said Jon Leckie, a researcher for Rent, a platform that helps landlords market their properties. For now, though, the wave of supply that's already underway should keep rents in check over the next couple of years. Now, as landlords shift their focus from jacking up rents to filling up units, renters can once again look ahead to better days.

☆ Homebuyers who are hoping for lower prices in 2023 are in for a 'rude awakening' when house hunting
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Robert Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Some respondents said a souring economic climate could keep them from buying in 2023. One homebuyer told Insider that she is considering moving to a new state to afford a home. "I got sick of wasting money on rent and wanted to see what I could qualify for, but it has not been promising," Jenner told Insider. To Elizabeth Renter, a spokesperson for NerdWallet, these survey results show that many homebuyers may be in for a "rude awakening" in 2023. However, Renter said many homebuyers are still facing an uphill battle when it comes to buying a home.

☆ First-time homebuyers are 'royally screwed'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-22 | by ( James Rodriguez | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

For first-time homebuyers like Talej, the outlook has never been bleaker. And during that year, first-time buyers accounted for just 26% of all home purchases, the lowest percentage ever, according to the NAR. The racial makeup of first-time homebuyers also set records in 2022, but the lack of progress in Black homeownership was perhaps most shocking. The percentage of first-time homebuyers who were white hit a two-decade high of 88% last year, up from 83% in 2003. Hope is a fickle thingThere's some slight relief on the horizon for first-time homebuyers.

☆ Bad news for millennials: Things have never looked bleaker for first-time homebuyers
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-22 | by ( James Rodriguez | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

For first-time homebuyers like Talej, the outlook has never been bleaker. This unfortunate combination means first-time buyers are waiting longer to purchase homes and winning out with less frequency than ever before. And during that year, first-time buyers accounted for just 26% of all home purchases, the lowest percentage ever, according to the NAR. The percentage of first-time homebuyers who were white hit a two-decade high of 88% last year, up from 83% in 2003. These trends only compound the bad economic news for millennials, who make up the majority of today's first-time buyers.

☆ See 32 pitch decks that some of the hottest proptech startups used to raise millions from top VCs like SoftBank and a16z
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Alex Nicoll | James Rodriguez | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

VC investment fell by 38% in 2022, but the technological transformation of real estate continues. investment fell by 38% in 2022, but the technological transformation real estate continues. Early innovators like Zillow showed that there was a place for real estate on the internet, while investments from firms like SoftBank showed that big money was paying attention. Insider has collected 32 pitch decks that successful firms have used to raise funding from VCs and private-equity firms. Clockwork AnalyticsThe pandemic laid bare the necessity of a technological transformation of commercial real estate.

☆ It's official: Remote work is going to make it easier to buy a home
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( James Rodriguez | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Remote work pushed housing trends into warp speedIn some ways, the pandemic's housing shifts were a long time coming. The shift to remote work also hastened many people's desire for more space. Across the country, remote workers chose to part ways with roommates or seek out larger homes. Elon Musk asserted his authority at Twitter by putting an end to remote work. On the other hand, as my colleague Aki Ito previously argued, a recession could further ingrain remote work as employers look to cut spending on real estate.

Insider's rising stars of real estate span roles in leasing, affordable housing, and urban planning. We asked 20 of these young industry experts and innovators to offer predictions for 2023. 2022 wreaked havoc on the housing market: Mortgage rates rose at a fast clip, bidding wars cooled, the Airbnb market shifted, and some high-flying proptech darlings crashed back down to earth. Insider picked 30 rising stars of commercial and residential real estate who're transforming the way homes are sold and offices get built. Here are the predictions for 2023 from our rising stars:

Insider's rising stars of real estate span roles in leasing, affordable housing, and urban planning. We asked the young achievers about the books that influenced their careers or personal growth. For some of Insider's rising stars of 2022, the subject matter might surprise you. Other rising stars told Insider they wanted to learn from the trials and tribulations of successful people, like the Nike cofounder Phil Knight. Below, find the selection of 29 books that influenced the rising stars, along with their musings of what they learned or how they applied the lessons to their practices.

☆ Wall Street landlords who've stockpiled $110 billion are lying in wait for their biggest American home-buying spree yet
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( James Rodriguez | Daniel Geiger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Institutional investors have earmarked as much as $110 billion to buy or build single-family homes. Institutional investors now own about 3% of the roughly 20 million single-family-rental homes in the US, according to Roofstock, an online marketplace for single-family investment properties. That would be nearly 9% of the roughly 88 million single-family homes in the US, according to the Census Bureau's most recent statistics from 2020. Better deals expected in the years aheadThere are signs the institutional investors won't have to wait long to begin buying. That leaves between roughly $70 billion and $80 billion that could still flow into the sector.

☆ More Foreclosures, Easier Mortgages Would Help Fix America's Housing Market
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-03 | by ( James Rodriguez | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +15 min

These standards are based on factors including the borrower's financial stability and the state of the housing market and economy. Finding the right size for the credit box is much easier said than done. A tidal wave of foreclosures followed, plunging the US housing market — and the global economy — into chaos. Even just stabilizing the credit box over time could also help smooth out some of the boom-and-bust cycles that have come to define the housing market. "If we do not address this intrinsic cyclicality, the housing market will continue to experience boom-bust cycles, leaving destruction in their wake," the paper said.

☆ Meet 30 rising stars of real estate who are transforming the way homes are sold and offices get built at firms like Blackstone, Redfin, and CBRE
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Robert Davis | Dan Latu | Jordan Pandy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Meet Insider's third-annual slate of emerging talent in commercial and residential real estate. We selected 30 young professionals 35 and under whose leadership spans a vast industry. Insider has tried to capture the brightest of the bunch in our third-annual Rising Stars of Real Estate list. But real estate isn't all about making money. Presented in alphabetical order by last name, here are the rising stars of real estate for 2022.

☆ One major homebuilder is resorting to Black Friday discounts to lure buyers back to the market
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( James Rodriguez | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Lennar, the nation's second-largest homebuilder, advertised Black Friday deals on its website. Lennar, the nation's second-largest homebuilder, advertised "Black Friday Deals on select move-in ready homes" at the top of the home page of its website as of Wednesday. Faced with the prospect of paying hundreds of dollars more for a mortgage each month, buyers retreated from the market in droves. Horton, the nation's largest homebuilder, said it was scaling back its production and offering more incentives to buyers to keep deals going. Buyers have continued to pull out of the market amid persistent inflation and high home prices.

☆ Homebuyers just got their biggest weekly mortgage-rate drop in 40 years
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( James Rodriguez | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The average rate for a 30-year mortgage just saw its biggest weekly drop in more than 40 years. The average rate for a 30-year mortgage just saw its biggest weekly drop in more than 40 years, according to Freddie Mac. A better-than-expected inflation report last week led to the biggest single-day mortgage-rate drop on record, according to Redfin. If interest-rate volatility declines, mortgage rates could keep falling as well, narrowing the distance from the 10-year Treasury yield. If that spread reverts to the historical average, that would put the 30-year mortgage rate at about 4.5%.

☆ Democrats who want to 'stop Wall Street landlords' and rein in the $4.4 trillion single-family-rental industry will likely be foiled by Republicans who will soon run the House
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( James Rodriguez | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

A recently introduced bill promises to rein in corporate owners of single-family rental homes. They scooped up thousands more during the COVID-19 pandemic as interest rates dropped and demand for rental housing soared. The introduction of the Stop Wall Street Landlords Act marks the latest escalation. "Low- and middle-income families in my district and across the country are being pushed out because of profiteering and unfair practices by large corporate landlords." But the watchful eye of federal lawmakers is sparking concern among large SFR companies.

☆ An investor with 35,000 rental houses is sitting on $3 billion of 'dry powder' as it waits for the perfect time to buy up thousands more homes
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( James Rodriguez | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Tricon Residential is one of the biggest owners of single-family rental homes in the US. Berman said the company expected to buy up 850 homes in the fourth quarter, for a total of 7,300 this year. Berman said the company was "slowing down today" so it could buy larger portfolios at discounted prices in the future. Single-family rental operators may be slowing down in the short term, but the biggest players have been adamant that the fundamentals of their business remain strong. "We also think that a lot of the startups in single-family rental may have trouble getting financing, and so maybe some portfolios shake loose.

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