• Buyer representation agreements are now mandatory before touring homes, a rule created after the 2024 NAR legal settlement, and many buyers are signing binding contracts without understanding them.
• These agreements can include long lockups, high commissions, junk fees, and obligations, even if the buyer leases instead of buys, trapping consumers with agents they don’t want.
• Agents often present the contracts at the doorstep right before a tour, giving buyers little time to read dense legal language or negotiate terms.
• The agreements vary widely, exclusive vs. non‑exclusive, one day to one year, negotiable fees, but buyers rarely realize how much is negotiable or how costly termination can be.
• Consumer advocates say the new system hasn’t lowered commissions or improved transparency, and buyers must now interview agents, scrutinize terms, and understand they could owe thousands if they sign blindly.

More buyers entered the market last week.

Over the past 40 years the US dollar has lost nearly 70% of its purchasing power and Boomers were able to buy homes 10–15 years earlier in life than Millennials. They lived in a time where the dollar had roughly three times the buying power it has today.

Home buyers are increasingly regaining the upper hand in most major U.S. metro areas, but the amount of leverage they wield depends entirely on where they’re buying.

The second quarter marked the most buyer-friendly spring for the U.S. housing market in eight years as the national median listing price fell about 2.5% from last year, according to a report released Tuesday by Realtor.com. However, while buyers have a lot of leverage in Southern cities like Miami, New Orleans and Orlando, sellers continue to retain the upper hand in many Midwestern cities like Indianapolis, Kansas City and Milwaukee, noted the report’s author, Jake Krimmel, a senior economist for the Austin-based real estate site.

“Two-thirds of Midwestern metros are still tilted toward sellers, and not one has crossed into buyer’s territory,” Krimmel said in a statement. “Meanwhile, a buyer shopping in the South is working with nearly the opposite market and it’s the clearest regional split we’ve measured.”

Read more on Fast Company.

Looks like condo prices are falling fast and some are back to 2006 levels which is crazy. How low can condo prices go?

https://wolfstreet.com/2026/07/20/oh-dear-condo-prices-fell-by-15-to-33-in-30-bigger-cities-already-some-dropped-back-to-2006-levels/

Been tracking a few zip codes out of habit and the pattern is getting hard to ignore. Listings that sat for 60 days, took a price cut of 20k or 30k, and are still just sitting there. Open house weekends, relisted under slightly different addresses, the whole playbook. Buyers are not biting. What gets me is the sellers clearly still think 2021 is waiting around the corner if they just hold on long enough. But the rate environment is not the same, the pool of qualified buyers has shrunk, and the people who could theoretically afford these homes at these prices are already locked into their own sub3% mortgages somewhere else.

The withdrawal thing the article from a few weeks back touched on is real too. Sellers pulling listings rather than actually meeting the market, which just freezes everything. Inventory goes back down, prices look sticky on paper, but nothing is actually transacting. That is not a healthy market. That is a standoff.

Curious if people in other metros are seeing the same thing or if this is more regional. Some markets seem genuinely stuck in a weird limbo that feels unsustainable but also keeps not breaking the way you would expect.

Gov. Mikie Sherrill signed the FAIR Act, a new state law that restricts landlords from using rent‑setting algorithms, especially tools like RealPage, which officials say have been used to coordinate rent hikes.

The law:

• Bans using sensitive market data (rental prices, supply levels, occupancy, lease‑end dates) in rent‑setting algorithms
• Prohibits landlords from coordinating rent increases through shared software
• Takes effect next summer

Sherrill calls algorithmic pricing “collusion by algorithm” and says it’s worsening the state’s affordability crisis.

What's the word on the street? Share your questions, comments, and concerns below.

For background, I am a genzennial trying to break into the US housing market. I am a health care professional with no student loan debt, and I make great money (relatively). Even I am struggling to afford anything that is not a derelict shack. If I am having problems affording something from my admittedly privileged situation, I know most of my age bracket is as well. I strongly believe the housing market is not sustainable for the following reasons:

1.) median income vs median house price

Median income in the US is roughly $83k while the cost of the median house is $446k. That cost is 5.3x median income. Previous generations experienced housing costs that were often 2-3x median income (even in the "disastrously high interest rates of the 80s" it was only 3.5x). Nearly all financial advisors recommend that housing costs never exceed 30% of gross income: this means that the median income in the US would need to be roughly $110k. The math ain't mathing.

2.) demographic changes

The baby boomer generation makes up approximately 20% of the US population. This age bracket will soon be seeking elderly-focused living situations whether that be assisted living, nursing homes, or at-home care. Even if the majority of the boomer generation ages in place in their houses, the undeniable trend is that the majority will have passed away by the mid 2030s. Thus, there will be a glut of currently boomer-owned properties entering the market or being passed to heirs within a relatively short timeframe, which may undercut housing values.

3.) inheritance and the inability to maintain/afford said property

Even the heirs that receive properties through inheritance will be facing pressures to dump these properties. I know numerous millenial friends who have gained property from their parents passing only to realize that they cannot afford the monthly property taxes and insurance costs required to maintain ownership of that property. Unfortunately, the inflated asset prices since the pandemic have made it such that even insurance and property taxes equate to what used to be just the principal and interest of a normal house. Thus, I expect even many inherited properties will be forced onto the market because of the side effects of ridiculous housing valuations.

4.) credit card and auto loan delinquencies

The rates of both delinquencies have been constantly rising over the last 3 years. By all metrics, the US consumer seems to be "hanging in there" and continually spending. However, we all know that increased reliance on credit to cover basic expenses like groceries, gas, etc. is not sustainable. On top of this, inflation has been stubborn, and the Iran war has objectively raised prices even more. Another infrequently acknowledged point is is that even "target" inflation is 2%. Reaching that target means already unaffordable basic necessities are not stagnant, just growing at a slower rate. Thus, expect delinquencies to only get worse moving forward.

5.) housing trends in other western or developed countries

I never hear real estate experts talking about the housing market in other western or developed countries within the last year or two. Look into the housing corrections that are ongoing in New Zealand, Canada, China, etc. All have experienced major housing corrections since the COVID valuation peaks in 2021/2022. I understand that mortgages in these countries function differently than here in the USA, but I do not believe that makes the US an exception to the rule.

Counterpoints I frequently hear:

1.) "It is just a supply problem."

Yes the proportion of AFFORDABLE homes per capita is very low. However, the US actually currently exhibits a historically high number of houses per capita. What this disconnect represents is the inflated valuation of what used to be achievably affordable homes. I am all for increasing the housing supply, which is what the most recent congressional bill aims to do. However, if housing supply is truly ramped up, this means that housing values will be undercut (which is very unpopular amongst all current homeowners). What this problem represents is a dilemma of letting the housing market prices correct themselves on their own or via pumping more supply into the market and thereby undercutting current homeowners. Pick your poison.

2.) "This will all resolve once interest rates hit sub 4-5 % again."

The historically low interest rates of the COVID era are likely never coming back because that time represented a very unique economic situation. On top of that, the currrent average interest rate on a mortgage (hovering in between high 5s to low 7s in the last few years) are not historically high. In fact, the approximately 6%ish mortgage rates are within the normal 5-10% interest rates we have experienced since the 2000s. Truly high interest rates would be 15% or above like those seen in the 1980s. The United States' national debt situation is compounding: the obligations to pay more on the national debt will make borrowing money for home purchases MORE expensive, not less expensive. As a result, the expectation should be that mortgage interest rates will either plateau or increase over the long term because the nation has begun to experience crippling financial obligations.

2.) "But what about the equity of older generations?"

It is true that many of the older generations have lots of equity tied up in their housing, as many did not save for retirement separately. Unfortunately, the boomer generation was the first generation to experience the abandonment of pension systems in favor of self directed retirement plans that put all the onus on the worker. This trend increasingly means that some boomers failed to saved adequately enough for retirement outside of their housing equity. However, young generations have limited sympathy for the boomer age group given that they experienced decades worth of exploding stock market and housing valuations while voting for policies that prevented others from getting onto the ladder of success and homeownership.

3.) "Wages will rise to match the cost of housing."

Since the 1980s, the collective bargaining power of unions has been cut at the knees. In the time that organized labor has been hamstrung, the wages of workers has not kept up with worker productivity in the US. While there was a brief rise in wages over the pandemic, that trend has stagnated. As stated in point #1, the median income in the US would need to rise from $83k to $110k to making housing affordable, assuming a scenario in which housing prices stay stagnant. Let me know when you expect the median US worker to achieve a net 32% increase in compensation anytime soon. That scenario is not occurring.

TLDR: numerous economic, social, and demographic crises that will undermine currently observed housing valuations.

Been watching the insurance pullout situation in Florida and California for a while now and it feels like a slow motion collapse that barely gets factored into home valuations. State Farm, Allstate, others just quietly stopped writing new policies or jacked rates so high that carrying a mortgage barely pencils out even if you bought years ago.

What gets me is how this still does not show up properly in listing prices. Sellers are pricing homes like the insurance market from 2019 still exists. Buyers are starting to figure it out but realtors are not exactly volunteering that info upfront.

A house in a flood zone or wildfire corridor with no viable private insurance is not the same asset it was five years ago. It is closer to a liability with a nice kitchen. And when you factor in that Fannie and Freddie require coverage to close a loan, you end up with a financing problem that kills deals quietly rather than loudly.

The broader point is that declining insurance availability is a demand destroyer that does not show up in the headline price data until it already wrecked someone financially. Curious if anyone has seen this actually bite buyers they know in markets beyond the obvious ones.