It’s been a more than a year and a half of technological innovation in real estate in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Federal Housing Finance Agency has decided to make one tool — desktop appraisals — permanent.

Pet ownership increased dramatically during the pandemic. 73% of homeowners report at least one pet in the home.

“There simply aren’t enough homes for sale relative to the demand fueled by millennials armed with low mortgage rate-driven house-buying power.” — First American Deputy Chief Economist Odeta Kushi

The median existing-home price for all housing types in September was $352,800, up 13.3% on an annual basis, as every region in the country registered price increases.

The decrease was driven by a 5.1% month-over-month slide in the rate of multifamily starts, while single-family construction was flat.

Zillow announced it will not sign any new contracts to buy homes until the end of the year due to a “backlog in renovations and operational capacity constraints.”

The acquiring group includes First Multiple Listing Service in Atlanta, MIAMI REALTORS®, ACTRIS MLS in Austin, Texas, and Heartland MLS in Kansas City.

At 37 years old, the new president will be the second-youngest leader of the national nonprofit trade organization, which works to improve the homeownership rate in the Asian-American Pacific Islander community.

The median household wealth for U.S. Latinos is set to triple by 2024 — largely due to recent real estate gains. This information comes from data released by NAHREP®.

Coldwell Banker’s new group originally aimed to raise $250,000, which it did within the first six months of the year, and by October, it had more than doubled its initial goal.

The new program, DepositLink Pay, allows a broker, agent or title company to direct buyers and renters to a customized URL or a “Pay” button online to make digital earnest-money deposits and rental payments with no cost to brokers, agents or companies. 

The user of the app can monitor information about their home and local market conditions, store important documents, generate estimates for home repairs and find a local contractor for more than 1,000 different home-service categories. 

Mortgage rates rose quickly last week. The 30-year fixed mortgage rate hit 3.01%, up 0.13% from the week prior.

Expect a stable housing market over the next five years — despite the expiration of COVID-era protections — says a new Zillow report.

All four geographic regions saw increases, led by the Midwest, which clocked a 10.4% rise from July, and the South, where sales rose 8.6%. Pending transactions rose 7.2% in the West and 4.6% in the North.

The 10-city composite index rose 1.4% on a monthly basis and 19.1% on a yearly basis, while the 20-city composite gained 1.5% monthly and 19.9% annually.