Minutes before a high-stakes trial was about to begin, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that Zillow has agreed to “unwind” its $100 million partnership with Redfin in the rental listing market, after it accused Zillow of an unlawful buy-out to decrease competition for rental listings. Redfin will be required to re-start its rental business…

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Editor’s note: after this story published, Zillow and Redfin struck an agreement with the FTC to avoid trial, amending or unwinding significant portions of their partnership. Read the full story here. At 10 a.m. Eastern Time on Monday, August 24, portal rivals Zillow and Redfin will face a judge in Virginia federal court, and defend…

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Higher mortgage rates, rising construction costs and economic uncertainty pressured housing affordability to reverse course in Q2, after showing improvement in the prior three quarters, according to the latest data from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). The NAHB/Wells Fargo Cost of Housing Index (CHI) for Q2 found that a family earning the nation’s…

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California Regional Multiple Listing Service (CRMLS) has announced the launch of REcore Workspace, a redesigned and customizable platform created to help real estate professionals access data, manage their business and move through their workflows with ease and efficiency.  Originally launched by CRMLS in 2023 as REcenterhub, the platform became the primary access point for users…

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CoStar Group announced the completion of its $800 million acquisition of Zonda—a provider of new home construction data, homebuilder software and residential real estate marketplaces. The deal was first announced back in May. CoStar stated in a release that this acquisition expands the company’s presence across the residential real estate ecosystem, extending the company’s data,…

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As the question of affordability looms over homebuyers’ heads, recent reports by economists generally agree that the housing market is weighed down by economic and global constraints—though a new report offers some near-term reasons for optimism. The latest monthly Leading Economic Index (LEI) by nonprofit The Conference Board highlighted slight growth in many forward-looking metrics,…

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(TNS)–Two TikTok users shared posts about a Connecticut property for rent in July — but the property was never available to rent. The property, a three-bedroom home in Harwinton, originally was listed for sale for $599,000 by Hartford County-based Realtor Geena Becker. But on TikTok, the same property was advertised as a rental for $1,400 monthly with utilities…

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New York looks likely to become the latest state to create restrictions on private listings. On June 1, the New York State Senate passed the Fair and Transparent Real Estate Listings Act, after amending the bill to include an opt-out option for sellers. The act’s intention is to prevent properties from only being available on…

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Mortgage rates remain mostly better historically as this week and last observed some slight decreases, according to the latest data from Freddie Mac. However, the persistence of economic and market headwinds put this silver lining at risk. The latest Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey® saw the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) average 6.65% as of…

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As much of the country has been enveloped in scorching heat recently, is it too early to start planning for issues that arise during the cold months? Not in this industry, as deals take months to close and market seasonality can always upend your business. Warm weather is ideal for showing houses, unless there’s a…

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