Home sales are finally showing real momentum as we close out 2025. The trends are consistent enough to inspire me to sketch a Goldilocks case that results in very significant home sales growth 2026. What if we get lucky and the conditions land just right? First the data. The Altos weekly pending sales counts are running well ahead of last year. In mid-November, newly pending contracts were 15% higher...

Several candidates have been publicly identified to serve as the next chair of the Federal Reserve, with current Chair Jerome Powell‘s term coming to an end in May. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC’s Sara Eisen in October that he would give President Donald Trump “three or four candidates for him to interview” shortly after Thanksgiving. Trump, however, told reporters in the...

Thursday marked day three of Compass’s preliminary injunction hearing in its antitrust lawsuit against Zillow. The day featured testimony from Compass executives and expert witnesses. The hearing, which is being held in New York City under the auspices of U.S. District Court Judge Jeanette Vargas, will be used to decide Compass’s motion seeking to block the enforcement of Zillow’s listing access...

Essam Elsafy, founder of The Elsafy Team, has quietly become one of Wisconsin’s most successful real estate leaders, guiding his team to top statewide rankings. The Whitefish Bay–based group, now nine members strong, ranked No. 3 among Wisconsin medium-sized teams by sales volume in 2024, according to RealTrends Verified. So far this year, the team has closed 126 units totaling $80 million and...

Credit report prices for mortgage lenders will increase by up to 50% in 2026, despite regulatory efforts to boost competition and recent pricing shifts by some players, resellers told HousingWire. It will mark the fourth consecutive year of higher costs.  The increase is tied to credit reports that originate with FICO information and flow through the three major credit bureaus — Experian, Equifax and...

Few homes in West Texas draw the kind of admiration this Marfa ranch commands. Owned by internationally acclaimed design photographer Douglas Friedman, the 10-acre compound has earned a rare distinction: Architectural Digest selected it as one of the magazine’s “50 Great Houses.” And it’s easy to see why. The low-slung structure seems to float over the desert, framed by uninterrupted views...

Manhattan’s famed Billionaires’ Row isn’t short on jaw-dropping listings, but a newly listed $50 million duplex at One57 manages to break through the noise with its sheer scale, unmatched views, and a double-residence setup that almost never comes along. The offering combines two identical Central Park-facing homes — Residences 52B and 53B — stacked directly above each other. Together they...

As holiday hosting ramps up, so does the value of a dedicated dining room. Beyond providing seating for a meal, a dining room sets the tone, gives hosts room to spread out and draws people together. For inspiration, explore these five refreshed spaces featuring bold wallpaper, layered...

U.S. Roads, Airports and Cruise Ports Brace for Peak Crowds U.S. holiday travel is on track to hit record levels this Thanksgiving, with the American Automobile Association projecting 81.8 million people will journey at least 50 miles from home between Tuesday, Nov. 25, and Monday, Dec. 1, 2025. The figure marks a 2% increase from last year--roughly 1.6 million additional travelers--and surpasses...

At The Builder’s Daily Focus on Excellence Conference in Denver, we had a chance over breakfast to discuss what we were seeing in off-site housing. While we have come at this from different angles and have seen different aspects of it, we reached a similar conclusion. Both of us have believed for years that off-site building is simply inevitable—the way we do things has changed so little in a...