• Trump's childhood home in Queens recently sold for a $1.2 million loss.
• The home last sold for $2.1 million in 2017 but has fallen in disrepair.
• The CEO of the auction house that sold it in years past said it was his most-profiled sale.

President Donald Trump is known for the art of the deal. However, his childhood home in Queens sold at a $1.2 million loss last month.

While Trump had nothing to do with the sale of the Jamaica Estates home, where he lived until he was 4 years old, it sold for just $835,000 after selling for $2.1 million in 2017.

New York City records show the 2,500-square-foot home, located 22 miles from Manhattan, was sold to a New York-based LLC named 1388 Group. The home sold in an off-market deal, and the seller "just needed the money," according to the New York Post.

Unlike the previous two sales in 2016 and 2017, this sale went under the radar — those sales were auctions with major national media attention. Misha Haghani, the CEO and founder of Paramount Realty, the auction firm that handled the first two sales, said he'd never seen anything like it.

"I don't think there has ever been an auction on the planet for a property that was more high-profile — I'm pretty sure of that," Haghani told Business Insider.

"He was running to be the 45th president of the United States," he added. "Before that, there were only 44 US presidents. How many of their childhood homes do you think still stood?"

Initially, an in-person auction was planned for the day of the final presidential debate in 2016, but there was so much attention that it had to be postponed.

Haghani believes the commotion surrounding the first sale increased the home's value — he thought it was worth about $950,000 at the time.

Haghani said the seller still received a bid and wanted to accept, so they sold the home for $1.39 million in December 2016.

In January 2017, the house was up for auction again — this time, a sealed bid auction, where hopefuls submit a bid blindly by a certain deadline. The second sale raised the value another 50% as the home sold for $2.14 million.

Haghani said he "was surprised" by the numbers.

However, the more recent sales price wasn't surprising, as the home had recently fallen into disrepair. In October, the real estate website Curbed reported that 20 to 30 feral cats commandeered the now-abandoned property.

Trump's father, a real-estate developer, built the five-bedroom home and the neighborhood itself. According to Realtor.com, the median listing price for a home in the neighborhood today is $1.5 million.

• Home prices have surged, raising required income for homeownership by 49.5% since 2020: Bankrate
• Two-thirds of states saw an increase in needed income of over 50%; Utah leads with an 89% rise.
• But some states, like Ohio, Alabama, and Missouri, are still more affordable.

Buying a home has gotten a lot more difficult since the pandemic.

With home prices surging around the country since 2020, the average household income needed to purchase a home at the median national price has risen by 49.5%, according to a new report from Bankrate.

About two-thirds of states have seen a surge in required income more than 50%. Utah comes in on top with an 89% increase in the last five years, the report said.

But on an absolute basis, some required household incomes to buy the average home are still fairly reasonable, well below the US average of $116,986 — which buys a $418,489 home.

Still, given the nationwide rise in the required income to buy a home, the report listed a few tips for breaking into the market, like improving your credit score to secure a lower mortgage rate; finding out about down-payment assistance programs; looking at cheaper options like condos; and simply waiting until you're in a better financial position.

Below are the 10 states with the lowest household incomes needed to buy the state's median-priced home, ranked in descending order, according to the Bankrate study. The increase in income required since 2020 is also included, as is the median home price and its monthly mortgage payment.

10. Alabama

Salary needed to buy median-priced house, January 2025: $77,262

5-year increase in salary needed: 49.4%

Monthly mortgage payment, January 2025: $1,471

Median home price, January 2025: $278,600

9. Louisiana

Salary needed to buy median-priced house, January 2025: $76,145

5-year increase in salary needed: 26.0%

Monthly mortgage payment, January 2025: $1,328

Median home price, January 2025: $251,500

8. Missouri

Salary needed to buy median-priced house, January 2025: $74,263

5-year increase in salary needed: 45.9%

Monthly mortgage payment, January 2025: $1,356

Median home price, January 2025: $256,900

7. Michigan

Salary needed to buy median-priced house, January 2025: $74,228

5-year increase in salary needed: 43.8%

Monthly mortgage payment, January 2025: $1,319

Median home price, January 2025: $249,800

6. Arkansas

Salary needed to buy median-priced house, January 2025: $73,330

5-year increase in salary needed: 57.2%

Monthly mortgage payment, January 2025: $1,351

Median home price, January 2025: $255,900

5. Indiana

Salary needed to buy median-priced house, January 2025: $72,342

5-year increase in salary needed: 65.3%

Monthly mortgage payment, January 2025: $1,363

Median home price, January 2025: $258,100

4. Mississippi

Salary needed to buy median-priced house, January 2025: $72,072

5-year increase in salary needed: 48.5%

Monthly mortgage payment, January 2025: $1,304

Median home price, January 2025: $246,900

3. Ohio

Salary needed to buy median-priced house, January 2025: $71,080

5-year increase in salary needed: 51.9%

Monthly mortgage payment, January 2025: $1,257

Median home price, January 2025: $238,000

2. Iowa

Salary needed to buy median-priced house, January 2025: $70,437

5-year increase in salary needed: 42.8%

Monthly mortgage payment, January 2025: $1,211

Median home price, January 2025: $229,400

1. West Virginia

Salary needed to buy median-priced house, January 2025: $64,179

5-year increase in salary needed: 54.3%

Monthly mortgage payment, January 2025: $1,335

Median home price, January 2025: $252,900

Buying a home is a high-stakes game, often with hundreds of thousands of dollars on the line. Making a wrong decision can lead to foreclosure and bankruptcy; making the right decision can generate wealth that is passed down for generations.

When people are ready to settle down, they're confronted with all the usual dilemmas: whether to buy a home; where to buy a home; what kind of home to buy; and how much to spend. These highly emotional decisions are all more manageable using the lessons of behavioral economics, which I studied as an economist.

When I took a new tech job offer in 2017, it meant leaving San Diego for Seattle. As I set out to find a new home for myself, my husband, and my mom in my new city, I wanted to avoid getting caught up in the competitive pressure of beating out other buyers and making rash decisions that I might later regret. So I decided to divide my search into two phases. In the first, I would take my time getting to know the city and its various neighborhoods by renting a home. In the second, once I had a clear sense of my preferences, I would begin making offers on properties that met my criteria. By taking this approach, I hoped to avoid the pitfalls of hasty decision-making and make an intelligent, informed choice.

For about five months, I spent a great deal of time exploring the different neighborhoods and assessing their pros and cons. From historic homes dating back to the 19th century to midcentury modern homes from Seattle's post-World War II boom to modern new construction, there were plenty of options.

The most significant tradeoff to be made when choosing is location versus home size. I initially thought of a short commute and a large home as must-haves, but given my budget and the need to have space for three adults and three dogs, I had to sacrifice on the length of my commute. Many homebuyers make this same compromise. According to a Redfin survey, 89% of homebuyers would rather purchase a single-family home with a backyard than a unit in a triplex with a shorter commute.

Soon we focused our efforts on West Seattle, a neighborhood located on a peninsula across the sound from downtown. My commute to the office would take about 30 minutes each way by bus, where I could at least get some work done with the complimentary WiFi. This was a decent tradeoff, given that homes in West Seattle were about $100,000 less than homes closer to the downtown office.

Now in phase two, when I began viewing properties and making offers, I became hyperconscious of how my emotions might influence my decision-making. Common mistakes made by homebuyers include becoming too attached to a particular home, fixating on the list price instead of the market value, following the herd, and letting fatigue cloud judgment.

You must try to avoid falling in love too quickly with a home. Once you start picturing your future in a home, it can become challenging to walk away, and it can suck you into a fierce bidding war. Block out any and all thoughts about hosting holidays or your children playing in the backyard. Yes, it is a good idea to consider whether the home will suit you in the future, but if you become too attached to that future, you're working against yourself. People value a home more if they already feel like they own it.

Behavioral economists have a term for this: the endowment effect. The behavioral economist Jack Knetsch has found that people's willingness to sell an item they own was lower than their willingness to buy an item they did not own, even when the subjects knew ownership was assigned randomly. In one experiment, test subjects were given either a lottery ticket or cash. Most people opted to keep whatever form of compensation they had received first instead of trading it for the other option. For a variety of reasons, whether an aversion to feeling loss or a bias toward the status quo, people tend to get attached to the bird in their hand, even when there might be two in the bush.

List prices can also be misleading. In a hot market, sellers may advertise their homes for significantly less than what buyers are ready to pay in order to spark a bidding war. This amounts to a bait-and-switch.

As a buyer, don't take the bait. Don't anchor your expectations on the listed price. The anchoring effect refers to a person's tendency to focus on the first piece of information they hear while making decisions. In a famous lab experiment by the late Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, research subjects spun a wheel of fortune with numbers from 0 to 100. The participants were then asked to guess the share of African countries that were members of the UN. Participants whose spin landed on a lower number were more likely to guess a low number. Participants whose wheel spin landed on a high number were more likely to guess a high number. The number the needle of the wheel landed on was completely irrelevant, yet the research subjects still used it as an anchor for their guesses.

The list price of a home may contain some helpful information about what the seller believes its value is. But ultimately the value of the house is set by the market.

If you need to, take a break. Losing bidding war after bidding war — which happens a lot — fosters fatigue and impatience, which can lead you to give up too soon or to buy a home you later regret.

Behavioral economists have repeatedly found that the quality of decisions deteriorates when an individual is overburdened with too many options. A study published in Health Economics found that orthopedic surgeons made worse recommendations toward the end of their shifts. Doctors were less likely to recommend surgery for patients who would have benefited just as much from surgery as patients seen earlier in the surgeon's shift.

Also, avoid following the herd. If others are ready to bid high, you could be tempted to do the same and stretch your budget. Herding behavior, another behavioral economics term, can lead to bubbles in the housing market or the stock market and was one of the culprits for the subprime mortgage crisis of 2008. The best way to avoid getting caught up in speculation bubbles is to not speculate in the first place and make offers appropriate only to your personal financial circumstances.

After spending a few weeks touring homes in the area, I came across a property that immediately caught my eye. It had everything my family was looking for. But there was one giant red flag: the home had been on the market for nearly a year without any offers.

Upon further inspection, I noticed that the house was located across the street from a strip mall and had a strange layout. Even though I liked the home, I wanted to avoid paying more than other buyers might think it was worth. So I kept looking.

When buying a home, you have no choice but to concern yourself with resale value. Life is unpredictable; there is always the chance you might not stay in the home long term, and you don't want to pay more than what you can resell it for.

There is tension in this advice: a homebuyer must avoid herding behavior by thinking for themself while simultaneously considering how other people might value homes in the future.

The way to walk the middle path is detached observation — recognize the behavior patterns of others without letting it unduly bias your decision-making.

About a month later, we found a home that seemed too good to be true. Ample space, close to public transit, even a view of Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains. However, the home was 70 years old, so we would need to update the electrical, plumbing, and heating. Since we were renting elsewhere, we could delay moving to get this work done.

Things go wrong after you buy a home. Thinking that these problems won't end up costing you significant time and money is what behavioral economists call optimism bias: the tendency to overestimate the likelihood of favorable outcomes and underestimate the likelihood of unfavorable outcomes. The challenge, then, is to consider the risks and whether they are worth the reward.

As I prepared to make an offer to buy a home, I thought back to the hundreds of homeowners going through foreclosure that I interviewed while interning at the Boston Fed. They experienced bad luck on top of bad luck — deaths, divorces, medical emergencies, job loss, and a global recession. Any of those things could happen to me.

With all the repairs the house needed, I determined the maximum amount I could afford to pay was $950,000. I liked this particular home more than any other home on the market priced below $950,000, so I reasoned that this amount must be my value for the home. But I still had a nagging feeling that I was overextending myself and overpaying.

What if the roof sprang a leak? And what if, because I had already spent my savings repairing the plumbing, electrical, heating, and cooling, I didn't have any money left to repair the roof?

I could have kept going down the list of unlikely catastrophes. Instead, I focused on the unlikeliness of the scenario rather than the pain of the scenario. This helped me get out of my head and back to the task at hand. In economics, expected utility theory hypothesizes that individuals weigh uncertain outcomes according to their likelihood and the net benefit of each outcome. I shuddered at the thought of a bad scenario, like being laid off during a severe recession and housing-market downturn. However, according to expected utility theory, I should weigh that feeling against the likelihood of that scenario, which I reasoned to be a once-in-a-century event. In all likelihood, my job was safe, the economy was fine, and the value of homes would keep going up.

The home was listed at $840,000. I submitted my bid on the home for that amount. When you're deciding whether to bid above or below the asking price, look up how competitive the housing market is in the neighborhood and how the home compares to what else is on the market. If the market is cool, it's advisable to come in low. However, if the market is hot, the seller may completely ignore your offer if it's below the asking price.

Even though I offered $840,000, I was ready to go as high as $940,000. Later that day, my agent called me to deliver the good news: we won the home at list price. No one else even submitted a bid.

Daryl Fairweather is the author of "Hate the Game: Economic Cheat Codes for Life, Love, and Work" and the chief economist of Redfin.

This story is adapted from "Hate the Game: Economic Cheat Codes for Life, Love, and Work" by Daryl Fairweather, to be published by the University of Chicago Press on April 11, 2025. Copyright © 2025 by Daryl Rose Fairweather. Printed by arrangement with the University of Chicago Press.

• US home sales hit rock bottom in 2023 and 2024.
• Trump's tariffs are keeping mortgage rates high and sales depressed.
• But there's a silver lining for buyers in this tough market: less competition from other home hunters.

It's been difficult to sell a home for so long now that sellers are starting to get desperate.

It's a bittersweet picture for housing affordability because it may mean some power is shifting back toward buyers.

"With the passage of time, you essentially have some people really needing to move, despite the higher mortgage rates," NAR's chief economist, Lawrence Yun, told BI. "Changes in life circumstances — marriages, divorces, looking for a better school district, a new job in a different location, or a death in the family — all these life-changing events are constantly occurring, and they accumulate."

However, fewer existing homes were sold last year than in any year since 1995, according to the National Association of Realtors. For buyers, that presents a silver lining for affordability: A pent-up desire among homeowners to sell is helping reduce competition among buyers. For those buyers who can — or must — brave the market, power seems to be shifting in their favor as listings rise relative to the number of house hunters.

While home prices are still trending upwards in tight housing markets across the Northeast, Midwest, and Southern California, they're falling in many markets in the South and Southwest. Price cuts, particularly in the South and West, are becoming more common, and the length of time the typical US home sat on the market — an indicator that prices may continue to soften — has risen for almost a full year, Realtor.com reported.

Homebuyers are "not getting into bidding wars as often," Daryl Fairweather, Redfin's chief economist, told BI. "Because there are fewer buyers, they have more negotiating power."

The way things are going, she added, some sellers will need to cut their asking prices. But that doesn't mean they won't get a good deal. Home prices are still 45% higher than they were just before the pandemic, according to Redfin.

Are you putting your move on hold or struggling to sell or buy a home? Share your story with this reporter at [email protected].

An uncertain future

After home prices soared amid the pandemic and the Federal Reserve hiked interest rates in 2022, many homeowners who'd bought or refinanced during the period of super-low mortgage rates in 2020 and 2021 opted to stay put. US home sales hit rock bottom in 2023 and 2024, as prices stayed high.

Although the "lock-in" effect is easing, housing affordability is expected to stay dismal in many markets across the country this year.

Before the 2024 election, economists and housing researchers expected cooling inflation and interest rate cuts to boost home sales in 2025. But President Donald Trump's tariff threats and other federal policy changes have scrambled that picture, creating uncertainty that is keeping mortgage rates elevated and buyers out of the market. Now, it looks like mortgage rates are staying closer to 7% rather than cooling off as hoped.

While we're still waiting to see the full impacts of major federal policy shifts on the housing market, consumers are already reacting. Consumer housing sentiment is down year-over-year for the first time since 2023, driven by the belief that mortgage rates won't come down as quickly as previously thought, according to new data from Fannie Mae. While the percentage of people who said it's a good time to buy a home rose from 22% to 24%, the portion who said it's a good time a sell a home fell from 63% to 62%.

"If you're not sure what's going to happen in the US economy, then you probably don't want to make a massive financial decision," Hannah Jones, an economic research analyst at Realtor.com, told BI.

Broader consumer sentiment has plummeted under Trump, falling 22% since December, according to recent data from the University of Michigan. Consumers expect inflation to rise over the next year, and their confidence in the job market, stock market, and their own personal finances is down.

It's still possible this could all change. If Trump lifts his tariffs, inflation subsides, and the economy remains resilient, mortgage rates could come down and we could see a housing market recovery, Fairweather said.

"We're kind of in this in-between time, intercession if you will," she said. "There's maybe like a 20% chance that everything turns around in time for the spring season."

• Rent fell across the US for the 19th month in a row in February.
• But apartment prices in Washington, DC, rose 3.3% — even as DOGE cuts hit federal workers.
• A slowdown in new apartment construction may cause rents to surge in DC and elsewhere.

While some in Washington, DC may feel like the sky is falling, new data suggests rents there aren't.

Median rents for studios to two-bedroom apartments in the nation's capital rose 3.3% last month from the year before to $2,283, a March 19 report from Realtor.com found. That's a contrast to the 50 largest US cities, where rents slid on an annual basis for the 19th straight month to $1,691.

Eagle-eyed real-estate observers may be surprised to see higher rents in the DC metro area, which includes Virginia cities like Arlington and Alexandria as well as the Maryland suburbs.

That's because median home prices in Washington, DC, fell 3.3% year-over-year in February, according to Realtor.com — the exact inverse of what its rental data in the same span showed. The drop came as homeowners in the capital suddenly listed their homes, with inventory up between 48% and 56.2% in late February to early March versus last year, per the research firm.

DC's housing market seemed to be softening at the same time that the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, made major cuts to the federal workforce. Those whose jobs were eliminated may need to relocate, which could lead to a mass exodus.

However, February rental data contradicts this narrative about lower housing costs in cities with lots of federal workers, suggesting that it may be more rumor than reality — at least for now.

One possible explanation for this discrepancy is that return-to-office mandates are counteracting the DC emigration following the DOGE cuts, Realtor.com's economists remarked. Another is that this potentially seismic shift simply hasn't shown up yet.

"I don't think our data is totally reflecting the reality yet," Joel Berner, an economic researcher who co-authored Realtor.com's rent report, recently told Business Insider. "I think it's just a little bit behind."

Why prices could surge in DC, and beyond

Instead of rents plunging as ex-government workers look for greener pastures, there's reason to think apartment prices will surge in DC and several other major US cities in the coming years.

New rental inventory spiked to the highest level in five decades last summer, real-estate firm Zumper found, which is a compelling explanation for why apartment prices have been sagging.

But the pendulum may swing back, making new apartments harder to find in the late 2020s.

Less than 294,000 multi-family units in major cities got the green light for construction last year, Realtor.com found. That's the lowest level of approvals since 2017, even including a chaotic 2020, and is down from a peak of 461,000 in 2022.

Thirty of the 50 biggest US markets saw double-digit declines in multi-family permit approvals — including 23 down by 20% or more. That includes the DC area, where approvals plunged 35%.

"The current trend of declining rents over the past 19 months and a still-sizable number of multi-family units under construction have impacted builders' enthusiasm for new projects," Danielle Hale, Realtor.com's chief economist, said in a statement.

This apparent apartment-construction bust could worsen the US housing shortage, which Realtor.com estimates is already at 3.8 million units. In turn, rents could reverse higher, especially in major markets like New York, where apartments rose by a nation-leading 6.8%.

"The current trend of falling rents may not be sustained," Hale and Berner wrote. "We expect rents to start to grow again in the coming years as the pace of new units hitting the market slows."

Arnab Dutta, a 40-year-old living in the Bay Area, tried buying a home a couple of years ago with the help of a traditional real estate agent. It didn't go well.

Dutta's arrangement with his agent was the same one Americans have used for decades: The agent agreed to guide him through the process — showing him homes, writing offers, and wrangling stacks of paperwork — in exchange for the standard cut of the final sale price, between 2% and 3%. The commission, likely tens of thousands of dollars, wouldn't come straight out of Dutta's pocket; sellers are the ones who fork over the cash to agents on both sides of the deal after it closes. But Dutta would be indirectly paying for his agent, since the buyer is the reason the seller has any money to hand out, and the agent's threadbare advice made him feel like he wasn't getting much bang for his buck. The whole commission thing didn't sit right with him, either. He didn't see why his agent, who was supposed to represent his interests, should make more money if the price went up, the opposite of Dutta's ideal outcome. After he lost out on several homes, his search stalled out.

Dutta wasn't alone in his dissatisfaction with the traditional agent setup. He didn't know it at the time, but the rules that reinforced this relationship for decades were about to change. Last March, the National Association of Realtors, a powerful industry group that represents some 1.5 million agents around the country, agreed to settle a series of multibillion-dollar lawsuits that claimed this roundabout way of paying agents — and the NAR rules undergirding this system — had forced people to pay unfairly high commissions. The deal included new rules for paying agents, which many real estate experts predicted would nudge buyers and sellers to start negotiating over commission rates and bring costs down.

The results a year later have been underwhelming: There's little evidence that the settlement has put a dent in average nationwide commission rates, and those looking to preserve the old way of doing things have devised workarounds to ensure agents still collect their typical cut. But while many people are still doing things more or less the old way, some are taking advantage of the updated rules to usher in a brave new world of homebuying. They're owners of discount brokerages charging far less than the typical commission, entrepreneurs spinning up new real estate tech, and a small but growing number of savvy consumers flexing their negotiating power to save tens of thousands of dollars on their agents' fees. They're all betting that one day they'll no longer be outliers.

When Dutta resumed the hunt late last year, he tried a different tack. He enlisted the services of TurboHome, a brokerage founded after the NAR settlement whose agents work for a flat fee of between $5,000 and $15,000. Most real estate agents are independent contractors, reliant on hefty commission checks to make up for the lack of a steady salary. But agents at TurboHome are employed by the company — trading the uneven lump sums for consistent pay. The company, which raised $3.85 million in seed funding late last year, uses software tools to speed up mundane tasks like analyzing property disclosures and finding sales of comparable homes. Its tech frees up agents to focus on the finer details of the process while also taking on more clients at a time to make up for the smaller fees they collect on each deal.

Dutta agreed to pay the flat fee of $10,000 out of pocket, which turned out to be a useful bargaining chip in his negotiations with sellers. He didn't have to ask sellers to cover his agent's fee, which allowed them to pocket the sizable chunk of the deal that they would have otherwise had to fork over to his representation. In the pricey Bay Area, where the typical home trades for north of $1 million, that meant savings of $25,000 or more. When one of Dutta's offers eventually won out, it wasn't because he proposed the largest dollar figure; his agent, Donny Suh, tells me other prospective buyers came in higher. But without having to pay out a commission for Suh, the seller stood to net the most money from Dutta's offer. He closed on the three-bedroom home in February.

The success has left Dutta with some what-ifs from his prior home search. He recalls one house for which he was outbid by just $5,000.

"If we had this sort of tool in our hands at that time," he tells me, "we wouldn't have lost."

The battle over commissions — who pays, how much they pay, and when the money changes hands — comes down to information.

It all starts with the multiple listing services — local databases where most homes are advertised for sale. They may sound like unsexy infrastructure, but they've played a key role in propping up the typical agent commission. There are more than 500 of these databases around the country, and the vast majority are operated by local Realtor associations that follow rules handed down by the NAR. While the national organization didn't set commissions and says they've always been negotiable, it did set up rules that helped maintain the status quo. In the presettlement days, a seller who listed their home on the MLS had to fill out a little box saying how much they'd be willing to pay the buyer's agent. Since buyers already had enough up-front costs to worry about, everyone assumed that deals would go more smoothly if the suddenly cash-flush seller just paid out both sides. This setup allowed buyers to basically ignore how much their agent was getting paid — in fact, buyers' agents used to tell clients their services were free until a different legal battle ended that practice in 2020. It also meant that sellers almost always stuck to the industry standard of 2.5% or 3% of the final price for each agent, either because they didn't know any different or because offering less could risk being passed over by buyers' agents, who might "steer" their clients away from properties with lower-than-average commissions.

In the lawsuits against the NAR, the sellers who sued the organization alleged that this whole system was an elaborate scheme to pull the wool over regular people's eyes and force them to pay unfairly high commissions. Given that the median home price in the US is about $419,000, a 6% commission, split between two agents, would mean shelling out more than $25,000. While the plaintiffs pushed for commissions to be "decoupled," with buyers and sellers paying their own agents separately, the $418 million settlement last year didn't go quite that far. But it did offer enough changes to throw the real estate world into flux.

The first change is that sellers and their agents can no longer offer buyer-agent commissions through the MLS. In theory, this should get rid of that steering problem — if sellers aren't offering a commission, buyers' agents can't direct their clients away from the homes with less than the customary fee. But there's a huge loophole here: Sellers can advertise a buyer-agent commission pretty much anywhere else — on the broker's website, over the phone, on sites like Zillow or Redfin. If a buyer's agent wants to see how much they'll make off a home, it's easy for them to check. Given this workaround, many sellers are still offering to pay the standard commission, which makes sense in today's slow housing market. Given the low number of homes changing hands, people are wary of doing anything that could muck up a deal.

Buyers, on the other hand, face more paperwork as a result of the settlement. Before an agent so much as opens a door for a buyer these days, they'll have to get them to sign an agreement stating the terms of their relationship, including compensation. These forms, known as buyer-representation agreements, have historically been introduced much later in the process, if they were used at all. And they vary widely by brokerage and agent — some agreements are simple one-sheeters to tour a few homes, while others lock buyers into exclusive arrangements for months. It's the difference between seeing someone casually and getting married on the first date.

For now, at least, the combination of a slow market, general inertia, and lagging consumer awareness has kept the status quo relatively intact. A study by the real estate brokerage Redfin found that the typical buyer-agent commission was 2.36% in the fourth quarter of the year, down from 2.43% in the first quarter of 2024, when the settlement was announced, and unchanged from the third quarter, when the rules went into effect. But again, it's still pretty early, and many industry insiders expect the changes to eventually start knocking down commissions as agents are forced to compete on price.

"I think our projection still hasn't changed much, which is, over time, that will still come down," Joe Rath, the head of industry relations for Redfin, says. "That downward pressure still exists."

So how, exactly, could buyers and sellers start coming out ahead? A big step is simple consumer education. The real estate firm Clever surveyed 1,000 homeowners and prospective buyers and found that even after the new rules went into effect, 40% of respondents said they either didn't understand the implications or hadn't even heard of the lawsuits.

Old habits die hard, especially when there's so much confusion around these changes. And critics of the settlement say it's actually opened up new pitfalls for buyers. Before, the MLS at least showed you what almost every home was offering in commissions — now that kind of information has been scattered or isn't publicly available at all, which makes it harder to tell whether "steering" is happening. And some of the representation agreements floating around could end up locking buyers into exclusive relationships with incompetent agents.

"All these deceptive practices have been basically turned underground," Tanya Monestier, a law professor at the University at Buffalo, tells me.

But as consumers absorb these new rules and start to negotiate on commissions, both sides of the transaction stand to benefit. For sellers, the main advice boils down to this: Don't offer an exact commission anywhere. Not on the MLS, of course, but also not on a broker's website, via telephone, or a sign in the front yard, Stephen Brobeck, a senior fellow at the Consumer Policy Center, says. Instead, allow buyers to make offers on agent payment, just like they do for the home itself. One buyer might offer to pay 2.5% more than the asking price but ask for that extra 2.5% back in the form of a closing credit so they can pay their agent. Another buyer may offer the same dollar amount but ask for only 1.5% back to pay their agent's commission. Yet another, like Dutta, may not ask for any money back. At the end of the day, sellers should care about their net proceeds — the amount that goes into their pocket once all the pesky fees are settled. They can say they're open to working with buyers on their agent's commission without backing themselves into a corner by suggesting an exact percentage.

On the buyers' side, saving money comes down to asking — you can request a lower commission from your own agent or, if you can't afford to pay it out of pocket, ask for help from the seller in the form of a closing credit. "You can ask for stuff that's not advertised and still get it," Leo Pareja, the CEO of the real estate brokerage eXp Realty, tells me. Buyers make special requests all the time, like asking for a repair or for the pool table in the basement to come with the house. A credit to cover your agent's commissions shouldn't be any different.

Most sellers these days are still offering to pay a commission to the buyer's agent, as they did before the settlement's changes. But buyers who've negotiated a lower commission with their own agent could use that to make their offers more attractive in the eyes of a seller.

"I think what has changed is that there are these sort of savvier buyers out there, particularly in the high-cost markets, that are looking for any advantage that they can get," Ben Bear, the founder and CEO of TurboHome, says. The company mostly operates in California but has recently expanded to Texas and Washington.

Long before they start eyeing homes, buyers should also do some due diligence on their prospective agents. Studies have found that the vast majority of buyers still want a professional to guide them through their purchase, which makes sense — it's a massive transaction that most people will complete only a few times in their life. Some agents may be able to articulate exactly why they're worth every penny of the traditional commission. But there are a lot of agents out there vying for your business, and others may be willing to deviate from the standard commission to win more clients. One recently created portal, known as Fetch Agent, allows buyers to search for agents that match a set of parameters, like years of experience, location expertise, and even how much they charge in commission. In a world where buyer-agent commissions are no longer an afterthought but a key part of sale negotiations, it makes sense to shop around for an agent before shopping for a house.

"What we offer is the ability to transparently see what an agent would be open to when it comes to a work arrangement," Beau Correll, the founder of Fetch Agent, tells me. That kind of transparency — knowing exactly what you're getting from an agent and how much you'll be paying for them — is the kind of thing that could spur more agents to compete on price, which would bring down costs for consumers.

The rollout of the new rules has undoubtedly been a mess — even now, a year after the settlement was unveiled, there are many different interpretations of what is and isn't allowed. But the idea that both buyers and sellers should think about commissions — and maybe even negotiate to get a better deal — is a remarkable reversal from the old way of doing things.

"I would've liked it to go further," Brobeck tells me. "But it represents progress."

James Rodriguez is a senior reporter on Business Insider's Discourse team.

• A luxury building in New York is selling what appears to be the city's most expensive wine cellar.
• 80 Clarkson's biggest wine cellar — a whopping 155 square feet — is priced at $1 million.
• The condo's 105 parking spots are set to hit the market for $750,000 each, a relative bargain.

One million dollars can buy a lot of real estate.

In Miami, you can get a two-bedroom home with a balcony overlooking Biscayne Bay. In Dallas, seven figures can easily purchase a house with over 3,000 square feet.

At 80 Clarkson Street in New York City, though, it'll get you a 155-square-foot room to store your wine — and that's after you've bought one of the condos upstairs, which start at $6.75 million.

80 Clarkson — a two-towered luxury building under construction in Manhattan's West Village set to have a squash court, Pilates center, and spa with hot and cold plunge pools — has revealed pricing for some of its apartments and amenities. The juicy details come from the offering plan, a disclosure document that developers are required to file with the state's attorney general.

The initial pricing for the first 26 units — out of a total of 112 — starts at $6.75 million for a two-bedroom with about 1,900 square feet and goes as high as $63 million for a five-bedroom with almost 7,000 square feet.

The most striking sums, however, are for the amenities: on-site wine cellars and parking spots.

While the cheapest of the 48 wine cellars for sale to homeowners starts at $40,000, the two most expensive units veer into the six figures. The most expensive cellar, with approximately 155 square feet, is listed for $1 million in the offering plan, while the second-most expensive, at 107 square feet, is priced at $750,000.

Other New York City buildings have offered homeowners the option to purchase wine cellars. As of February 2023, 180 East 88th Street on the Upper East Side had a 70-plus-bottle wine locker for $15,000, while 100 Barclay in Tribeca had 54 lockers that could hold about more than 100 bottles for $20,000, according to the New York Times.

Jonathan Miller — the cofounder of real-estate appraisal firm Miller Samuel who has analyzed New York City listing and sales data since the 1980s— told Business Insider that 80 Clarkson's wine cellar is the most expensive that he can recall.

Real-estate developers try to get more bang for their buck by making every square inch of the building available to buy, Miller added.

"Over the 15 or 20 years, there has been much more emphasis on monetizing every square inch of a building," he said. "The developer only has one chance, so any unused space is marketed."

The developers of 80 Clarkson are Zeckendorf Development and Atlas Capital Group with the Baupost Group. According to pro-development real-estate site New York YiIMBY, 80 Clarkson will cost $1.25 billion to build.

The parking spots at 80 Clarkson, while expensive, aren't record-setting. The building's 105 spots are going for $750,000 apiece. Around 2015, the priciest parking spaces in New York City were approaching $1 million.

80 Clarkson is currently on track for completion in December 2026.

• Spring is often a good time to sell a house, though that may not hold true in 2025.
• Home supply is rising, and government spending cuts may boost inventory even further.
• Here are 14 cities where prices could fall in the coming months.

Homeowners looking to relocate would normally be in luck as the weather warms up.

Spring usually ushers in the start of the busy season in the US housing market. In fact, a new report from Realtor.com remarked that the single best week to list a home is in mid-April, since median prices and buyer demand are robust, while competition and price cuts are relatively low.

But this year could be completely different — if buyers realize how much leverage they have.

Sellers' bargaining power is waning as steadily surging home inventory puts property prices under pressure, according to an analysis of Realtor.com's data on the 50 largest US markets.

And that's before accounting for the potential fallout from the sweeping budget cuts by the Department of Government Efficiency. Elon Musk, who runs the newly formed DOGE, plans to eliminate government jobs in droves, which could cause a mass exodus from cities like Washington, DC — thereby bringing down home prices in certain markets even further.

Buyers are back in the driver's seat as supply rises

For years, buying a house has been a painful process. Home affordability was in the tank since prices and mortgage rates were uncomfortably high, making ownership unattainable for many. And a widespread home shortage complicated the process for everyone, even wealthier buyers.

However, significant increases in home supply are shaking up the US real-estate market.

Active home listings rocketed 27.5% higher in February, Realtor.com reported late last month. That marked the 16th consecutive month that there were more houses available on a typical day than in the year prior, though supply is still rather stretched relative to pre-pandemic levels.

Similarly, the number of unsold homes — which accounts for those already under contract — had been up by 18.2% from early 2024, which made for the 15th straight month of growth. That includes newly listed homes, which were 4.2% more common compared to last February.

Major inventory improvements have made homes harder to sell. US houses had been for sale for about 66 days in February, versus just over two months last year. Properties have spent more time on the market than the year prior for the past 11 months, Realtor.com noted, and listings lingered longer than last year in 42 of the 50 largest US cities.

More houses on the market means that bidding wars have largely become a pandemic-era relic. Instead, sellers are resorting to price reductions to entice buyers. Nearly 17% of listings in February had received at least one price cut at some point, versus a 14.6% rate a year earlier.

"Sellers are increasingly adjusting to slower market conditions, as the share of homes with price reductions rose significantly last month," Realtor.com researchers Sabrina Speianu and Danielle Hale wrote late last month. "This trend could indicate a potential slowdown in price growth."

Median US home prices slipped 0.8% from last year to $412,000 in February, Realtor.com had found. It's worth noting that values were up 1.2% on a price-per-square-foot basis, suggesting that cheaper, small homes went to market.

Either way, prices aren't moving much, which is a win for hopeful buyers after years of explosive price growth. Even more exciting for them is the idea that home values could decline further.

14 cities where home prices could fall after Elon Musk's cuts

If DOGE's cuts to the federal government's workforce are as widespread as Musk would like, tens of thousands of employees may be looking for new places to live. Home listings could balloon in cities brimming with government workers, which could deflate their values.

This dynamic doesn't seem to be swaying home prices yet, Realtor.com's economic researchers said, noting that there isn't a discernable difference in prices, price reductions, inventory growth, or time on the market. However, they could certainly see that changing in the coming months.

"Federal workforce reductions could have ripple effects on housing markets with a high concentration of government employees," Speianu and Hale wrote. They added: "The typical home seller takes at least two weeks and often longer to prepare a home for sale, so any real impact is likely ahead."

Below are the 14 US cities where federal government employees make up at least 2% of the workforce, meaning their housing markets are most in danger of being shaken up by DOGE. Note that only the 50 largest markets tracked by Realtor.com were included in this analysis.

Along with each location its median listing price in February, its year-over-year price growth in aggregate and on a per-square-foot basis, its listing price growth since the start of this year, and the percentage of federal government employees as a share of its working population.

1. Washington, DC

Median listing price: $579,995

Median listing price growth: -3.3%

Median listing price per square foot growth: 0%

Listing price growth since Jan. 1: 7%; $40,000

Federal government employees as a share of workers: 11%

2. Virginia Beach, Virginia

Median listing price: $392,500

Median listing price growth: 1.4%

Median listing price per square foot growth: 5.4%

Listing price growth since Jan. 1: 6.4%; $25,000

Federal government employees as a share of workers: 7%

3. Oklahoma City

Median listing price: $314,992

Median listing price growth: -2.6%

Median listing price per square foot growth: 1.3%

Listing price growth since Jan. 1: 4.9%; $16,000

Federal government employees as a share of workers: 4.2%

4. Baltimore

Median listing price: $350,000

Median listing price growth: 6.2%

Median listing price per square foot growth: 2%

Listing price growth since Jan. 1: 5.8%; $20,000

Federal government employees as a share of workers: 3.7%

5. San Diego

Median listing price: $949,995

Median listing price growth: -4.7%

Median listing price per square foot growth: -2%

Listing price growth since Jan. 1: 5.9%; $56,000

Federal government employees as a share of workers: 3.1%

6. San Antonio

Median listing price: $327,000

Median listing price growth: -2.4%

Median listing price per square foot growth: -2.1%

Listing price growth since Jan. 1: 4.8%; $16,000

Federal government employees as a share of workers: 3%

7. Memphis, Tennessee

Median listing price: $328,050

Median listing price growth: 1.3%

Median listing price per square foot growth: 2.7%

Listing price growth since Jan. 1: 9.4%; $31,000

Federal government employees as a share of workers: 2.8%

8. Tucson, Arizona

Median listing price: $396,200

Median listing price growth: -1%

Median listing price per square foot growth: -1.2%

Listing price growth since Jan. 1: 7.4%; $29,000

Federal government employees as a share of workers: 2.8%

9. Richmond, Virginia

Median listing price: $429,653

Median listing price growth: -4.2%

Median listing price per square foot growth: 2.3%

Listing price growth since Jan. 1: 4.6%; $20,000

Federal government employees as a share of workers: 2.7%

10. Kansas City, Missouri/Kansas

Median listing price: $379,450

Median listing price growth: -9.9%

Median listing price per square foot growth: -0.9%

Listing price growth since Jan. 1: 7.4%; $28,000

Federal government employees as a share of workers: 2.6%

11. Jacksonville, Florida

Median listing price: $388,098

Median listing price growth: -5.3%

Median listing price per square foot growth: -3.3%

Listing price growth since Jan. 1: 7.6%; $29,000

Federal government employees as a share of workers: 2.5%

12. Buffalo, New York

Median listing price: $249,974

Median listing price growth: -0.5%

Median listing price per square foot growth: 1.1%

Listing price growth since Jan. 1: 14.8%; $37,000

Federal government employees as a share of workers: 2%

13. Cleveland

Median listing price: $241,725

Median listing price growth: 14%

Median listing price per square foot growth: 14.9%

Listing price growth since Jan. 1: 16.1%; $38,000

Federal government employees as a share of workers: 2%

14. Tampa, Florida

Median listing price: $399,000

Median listing price growth: -4%

Median listing price per square foot growth: -4%

Listing price growth since Jan. 1: 6.5%; $26,000

Federal government employees as a share of workers: 2%

• There are a record number of properties for sale in Florida, with 168,717 homes listed in February.
• Some cities have doubled the amount of listings on the market since last year.
• The biggest increase in listings from last year occurred in areas with more affordable homes.

Florida's housing market is cooling as a record-setting number of homes were listed for sale in February.

According to Realtor.com, 168,717 properties went on the market in February, the highest number the site has recorded since it started keeping track in 2016.

The total number of properties for sale in Florida jumped by 40% since February 2024, Realtor.com found. In some cities, there are more than double the number of listings compared to last year. Only seven cities out of the 252 Realtor.com tracked had fewer listings this year than last.

Economists and other housing-market experts use increases in inventory to identify areas where demand and competition for houses might be waning. There, homebuyers might start to have an edge over home sellers. Increased inventory is also an indicator that home prices could fall.

Even though Palm Beach real estate is experiencing what some brokers call a "Trump bump," with expensive properties changing hands, other parts of the state are getting cheaper.

"Home shoppers in Bradenton and Sarasota are in for a treat with climbing inventory, falling prices, and longer time on market," Realtor.com senior economic research analyst Hannah Jones said in the report. "Buyers are likely to find more seller flexibility as homeowners aim to attract buyer attention."

Because the pandemic housing boom led to record-low levels of inventory nationwide, more homes for sale can sometimes signal a return to normal rather than a housing-market decline. In some parts of Florida, however, the influx of homes on the market and other forces are already having an effect on property values.

Take Greenacres, Florida, an enclave 10 miles southwest of West Palm Beach. In January 2025, the median listing price was $259,950, 13% less than in January 2024.

Other factors are weighing on the Florida housing market, including relatively higher mortgage rates that stifle homebuyer demand, intensifying property damage from natural disasters, and rising homeowners' association, or HOA, fees.

Here are 17 Florida cities with the biggest increases in homes for sale year-over-year, according to data from Realtor.com. Homebuyers and investors may want to eye these spots for better deals and more negotiating power.

The Realtor.com data about homes on the market is from February 2025, while the median listing prices are from January, the most recent month available.

17. The Villages

Properties on the market: 594

Increase in homes for sale year-over-year: 76.5%

Median listing price: $389,250

16. Oldsmar

Properties on the market: 144

Increase in homes for sale year-over-year: 76.7%

Median listing price: $379,450

15. Tequesta

Properties on the market: 111

Increase in homes for sale year-over-year: 76.8%

Median listing price: $749,000

14. Greenacres

Properties on the market: 331

Increase in homes for sale year-over-year: 78.9%

Median listing price: $259,950

13. Fort Myers Beach

Properties on the market: 508

Increase in homes for sale year-over-year: 83.1%

Median listing price: $799,999

12. St. Augustine

Properties on the market: 1,596

Increase in homes for sale year-over-year: 84.2%

Median listing price: $612,000

11. Tavares

Properties on the market: 152

Increase in homes for sale year-over-year: 92.40%

Median listing price: $359,000

10. Harmony

Properties on the market: 121

Increase in homes for sale year-over-year: 100.00%

Median listing price: $364,500

9. Royal Palm Beach

Properties on the market: 218

Increase in homes for sale year-over-year: 100.00%

Median listing price: $479,950

8. Ave Maria

Properties on the market: 218

Increase in homes for sale year-over-year: 106.60%

Median listing price: $474,900

7. St. Johns

Properties on the market: 269

Increase in homes for sale year-over-year: 115.70%

Median listing price: $575,000

6. St. James City

Properties on the market: 123

Increase in homes for sale year-over-year: 115.80%

Median listing price: $599,900

5. Dania Beach

Properties on the market: 168

Increase in homes for sale year-over-year: 118.20%

Median listing price: $409,900

4. Miami Gardens

Properties on the market: 309

Increase in homes for sale year-over-year: 120.70%

Median listing price: $499,999

3. Pace

Properties on the market: 178

Increase in homes for sale year-over-year: 128.20%

Median listing price: $349,000

2. Citrus Springs

Properties on the market: 298

Increase in homes for sale year-over-year: 136.50%

Median listing price: $284,990

1. St. Petersburg

Properties on the market: 2,141

Increase in homes for sale year-over-year: 164.1%

Median listing price: $440,000

Stop me if you've heard this before: Millennials have gotten screwed by the housing market.

The lack of affordable homes is one of the biggest reasons for the generation's economic shortcomings — why they can't catch up to their parents financially, live in cities near their friends, or even have as many kids as they want to. Several suspects have been blamed for this, including house-hoarding baby boomers and greedy corporate landlords. But the main issue was timing: A huge number of millennials reached their prime homebuying years after the 2008 financial crisis, right as the housing-market bust was pushing builders to cut back on construction. When it came time for millennials to claim their share of the American dream, the homes simply weren't there.

While the country's housing shortage, now measured in the millions of units, seems intractable, there are growing signs that it may not be a permanent state of affairs. Sure, lots of people have struggled to become homeowners over the past few years, sending prices to record highs and deepening the housing crunch. But population forecasts for the coming decade suggest a monumental shift is on the horizon. And millennials, after finally lifting themselves onto the homeownership ladder, may wind up with the short end of the stick yet again.

There's no denying that Americans are getting older. Slower population growth over the next decade and beyond, with more deaths and fewer births, will mean weaker demand for housing. This slowdown could come to a head in the 2030s, when members of Gen Z — a slightly smaller cohort than millennials — take over as the primary contingent of first-time homebuyers. Baby boomers will simultaneously be aging out of the market (economist-speak for dying), freeing up millions of homes nationwide. Unless immigration picks up dramatically to compensate, the combination of more supply and less demand could cause home prices to flatline or even drop.

Don't get me wrong: Cheaper housing is a good thing. But while a dip in home prices probably sounds like a godsend to the millions of renters hoping to become owners, it could be devastating for those who bought a place in the past few years. These homeowners, mostly millennials, are counting on their properties to grow in value and deliver a hefty financial return — the gilded path enjoyed by baby boomers. Like generations before them, millennials have tied up most of their wealth in their homes, which they'll rely upon to fuel their retirements or fund the purchases of bigger places down the line. Instead, when it finally comes time for them to sell, they may find that their nest eggs have turned out a lot smaller than they'd hoped.

Population trends, unlike the constant ups and downs of the economy, follow a steady drumbeat: People grow up, settle down, and eventually die. Demographics can't tell us exactly how many homes we'll need in a decade or two, but they can offer a pretty good idea. Builders and policymakers, however, haven't been great at reading the tea leaves. A recent paper from a team of researchers led by Dowell Myers, a demographer at the University of Southern California, argues that the lever pullers who control the housing supply have been out of touch for decades, relying on old data or focusing too much on the short term at the expense of the more distant future.

Take the current housing crunch. For years, demographic forecasts made it clear that a huge chunk of millennials would be looking to settle down in the late 2010s, signaling a need for a lot more houses. But homebuilding activity in 2011 dropped to its lowest level in 60 years, and credit availability tightened, making it harder to get a mortgage and creating more pent-up homebuying demand. Cue tough times for millennials.

But some real estate experts are starting to pay more attention to the underlying realities. I recently had lunch with Nik Shah, the CEO of Home.LLC, a housing analytics, consulting, and AI conglomerate. Shah and his team have gained prominence over the past few years for accurately predicting changes in home prices despite a tumultuous market. I was surprised, then, when instead of talking about the coming months, he mostly wanted to discuss the long term. Shah told me he's bullish on home prices for the next handful of years, forecasting mild year-over-year increases. But based on the demographic data, Shah expects home prices to stall out in the 2030s.

"Demographics play a critical role in home prices," Shah says. "And right now, the future projections on demographics are not rosy."

The biggest factor is deaths. In the coming decade, baby boomers will begin "aging out of the market" in droves. The size of the generation's adult population is second only to millennials, with roughly 66 million members who range in age from 61 to 79. But their numbers are projected to shrink by about 23%, or 15.6 million people, in the next decade, and by another 23.4 million people from 2035 to 2045. Boomers own about 41% of real estate nationwide, worth roughly $20 trillion, per the Federal Reserve. Their exodus will represent a sea change in the housing market.

All those boomer deaths, combined with a slight decline in birth rates over the next two decades, will work out to slower population growth. The result will be a lot less demand for homes. Data from the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies indicates that the total number of households in the US is expected to increase by 8.6 million over the next 10 years. In the past three decades, that figure ranged from 10.1 million households, in the 2010s, to 13.5 million, in the 1990s. From 2035 to 2045, household growth is expected to retreat even more, to a net increase of just 5.1 million, which would be the lowest growth rate in a century.

With more deaths and fewer births, the total number of US-born people in the country will shrink. The trajectory of the country's population, Daniel McCue, a senior research associate at the center, wrote in a report, will therefore be "entirely dependent on future immigration." Those household-growth projections from the Census Bureau assume that net immigration holds steady at 873,000 people a year for the next decade, roughly in line with the past 30 years. But even if you assume significantly higher immigration, McCue tells me, household growth is expected to decline over time.

The next generation of new homeowners won't represent a steep dropoff in demand. Harvard JCHS estimates there are now roughly 68 million Gen Zers, aged 16 to 30, compared to 68.8 million millennials. McCue says the real problem comes from the other end of the population equation, since a steady handoff to Gen Z homebuyers won't offset the wave of boomers exiting the housing market.

"It's not going to be enough to keep up with the pickup in losses, because the baby boomer generation is just so much bigger than previous generations," McCue tells me. "The pickup in mortality is going to outpace that."

Given the shifting demographics, the center says America probably needs to build about 11.3 million homes over the next decade and just 8 million new units between 2035 and 2045 to keep up with demand from new households (not factoring in the current shortage). These are fairly modest goals — in the 2010s, which included the weakest years for new construction in more than half a century, builders still finished almost 10 million units. In the 2000s, they built 17 million. As demand for homes slows down, McCue says, construction should have a chance to catch up.

That possibility should sound tantalizing to anyone hoping for an end to our housing shortage. But the imbalance between supply and demand has fueled an extraordinary run-up in home values — if that lopsidedness goes away, millennial homeowners may not see the same financial windfalls as their predecessors.

Millennials aren't young upstarts anymore. In 2030, they'll range in age from 34 to 49, according to Pew Research's cutoffs, which means many will be looking to move up the rungs of the housing ladder as they buy their first places or upgrade to bigger homes. They've already made up considerable ground in this department, with more than half the generation now owning their homes. For these fortunate millennials, the past few years of home-price gains have padded their net worths and contributed to a sunnier financial outlook.

While things are looking up, that may not last. A slowdown in home-price growth, or even outright declines, could leave a large chunk of millennials in a weird spot. Sure, for those who don't yet own a home, a breather in home-price appreciation could offer a chance to play catch-up. But among the millennials who are actually doing pretty well financially, most wealth is tied up in real estate and retirement accounts. An analysis by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis suggests that from 2019 to 2022, the typical person born in the 1980s, otherwise known as an elder millennial, saw the value of their assets balloon by a whopping 57.3%, even after adjusting for inflation. Most of that increase — 41 percentage points — came from real estate.

So let's say household formation slows down as expected, relieving some of the pressure on home prices to keep going up, up, up. The team at Home.LLC projects that in this scenario, even if immigration holds steady, home prices will stay flat, maybe increasing by about 1% in some years and dipping slightly in others. That's a long way from the kind of market crash we saw in 2008, but it would mean far less wealth gains for today's millennial homeowners.

To illustrate this tension, compare a hypothetical baby boomer with a hypothetical millennial. Each buys a $300,000 home during their heyday. The boomer bought the house in 1994. Thirty years later, it's fully paid off and sells for about $1.21 million — a stunning gain of 305%, based on the typical home-price appreciation in the US over those decades. The millennial buys the house in 2010 and also holds on to it for 30 years. Its value grows by 2.5% each year from 2025 to 2030 and by just 0.5% a year from 2031 to 2040. The home ends up being worth about $813,000, a 171% increase. That's nothing to sneeze at, but you'd take the boomer's gains any day of the week.

"Obviously, the difference is pretty huge," Sid Samant, Home.LLC's lead economist, tells me.

But even the elder millennial in this example is lucky, because they got to ride out the historic home-value increases from the the pandemic. In Home.LLC's model, someone who bought a house in 2022 — say, a millennial who finally found their foothold in the housing market — would see their home's value increase by just 31% through 2040.

Forecasting home prices a decade from now is a fraught endeavor. Nobody expected baby boomers to stay in their homes as long as they have, throwing the housing market out of whack for everyone else. For policymakers, immigration is the easiest lever to pull in counteracting demographic realities, which also makes it the biggest question mark. And there's no way of knowing how future changes in the economy will alter construction activity or the homebuying calculus.

But demographic change is inevitable. And even McCue, the Harvard researcher who lives and breathes this stuff, is still wrestling with the downstream effects of our aging population.

"The extent to which we're going to start losing households was very eye-opening," McCue tells me. "I think we still need to get our heads around the implications of that."

If the housing shortage does indeed go away, it will hardly be mourned. But any big shift usually comes with some collateral damage. In this case, it could be homeowning millennials who get burned.

James Rodriguez is a senior reporter on Business Insider's Discourse team.

• Some posts on social media fueled panic that Washington's housing market was rapidly weakening.
• Agents and an economist said the president's efficiency efforts haven't yet affected the DC market.
• While return-to-office mandates and layoffs sow uncertainty, it may take time to see their impact.

A federal worker renting outside Washington, DC, is house-hunting for a property to buy — in Baltimore.

According to the worker's real-estate agent, Shanna Moinizand, they've been summoned back to the office and extended their house hunt to Baltimore, about 40 miles outside the nation's capital, because properties are less expensive and the commute is reasonable.

"They can't afford to be in DC proper," Moinizand told Business Insider. "They reached out to me about the possibility of buying in Baltimore near Penn Station so they can afford their house, be a little bit closer, and feel like they can get a cheap house — and feel stable and commute to DC."

As thousands of workers await news of layoffs or firings as a result of the Trump administration's efforts to reduce the federal government's size, the Washington, DC, housing market is in limbo.

Some residents fear that newly jobless federal workers will leave the city en masse, causing for-sale and rental inventory to skyrocket and prices to fall dramatically. Others believe that return-to-office mandates might prompt people to flood into the city, heightening demand as they look to move closer to work.

Multiple videos posted to TikTok in February saying that nearly thousands of homes had been listed for sale in recent weeks stirred anxiety that inventory had already started to pile up.

Listing data, however, shows that the number of homes currently on the market is typical for this time of year. Local brokers told BI that any conclusions about the Washington market so far are premature.

While high-end real-estate in Washington, DC, has experienced a "Trump bump" as a few of the president's appointees buy up luxury mansions and power players try to sidle up to the White House, brokers said they are waiting to see if the rest of the housing market follows suit or falters.

The DC market has not crashed since Trump took office

Washington- and Maryland-based Compass agent Jaime Willis said that while some federal workers she's heard from feel uncertain about their job security, that uneasiness has yet to affect the market meaningfully.

"There was some histrionics happening on social media about how the price of homes in DC has gone down $150,000, and there are a million more listings than normal — and that is not true," she said. "Neither one of those is true."

New listings data from Bright MLS, which operates a major multiple listing service in the Mid-Atlantic region, show that the return-to-office and reduction in the federal workforce have had little impact so far on the number of homes for sale in Washington, DC.

During the first half of February 2024, 423 listings hit the market. In 2025, during the same time span, a total of 452 were on the market — about a 7% increase. In the greater Washington, DC, region, which Bright MLS defined as 18 surrounding counties and cities in Maryland and Virginia, there was no significant change in new listings.

Factors outside DOGE's reforms, like interest rates and cold weather, contribute to any fluctuation in listings, Bright MLS Chief Economist Lisa Sturtevant told BI. It's also unlikely that the tumult across federal agencies over the last month would affect the sales market immediately, she added.

"Walking through the exercise of how a household or family might respond to a job cut, the first thing you'd do is not list your home for sale," Sturtevant said. "We wouldn't have expected an onslaught of new listings as a result of federal cuts."

Part of an explanation for the relatively steady listing volume might be that while Washington, DC, has a large number of federal employees, they do not completely dictate what happens to its housing market.

Office of Personnel Management data from September 2024 showed over 162,000 federal civilian employees assigned to offices in Washington, DC.

To put that number in perspective, Washington's population is 702,250, according to the US Census Bureau's 2024 estimates. If every federal worker assigned to a DC office actually lived within city limits, they would make up only about 23% of the population.

DC's luxury market is humming along

What anxiety? Washington's luxury market is doing just fine.

Washington, DC, Sotheby's agent Daniel Heider told BI that the market for homes priced $5 million and up is going "absolutely gangbusters" with record-setting purchases. One is the $25 million sale of a French Château-style property with five bedrooms across about 16,000 square feet to commerce secretary appointee Howard Lutnick, a transaction that Heider confirmed he brokered in December.

Heider also said that his brokerage had its best fourth quarter ever in 2024 and is carrying the momentum into the first quarter, with over $130 million in deals in 2025 so far. BI was unable to independently verify that sales figure.

According to the New York Post, Trump's nominee for Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment, Jacob Helberg, spent $7 million in February on a home in Kalorama, the same Washington, DC, neighborhood where Ivanka and Jared Trump used to live.

Even though the luxury sector is having a moment, Heider said he thinks people could soon start vacating the suburbs in favor of areas closer to offices in the city center.

"As those return-to-work mandates come into effect — and not just for the federal government, but for private business — I would expect that more in-town markets are going to see a reaction from that," he added.

Willis, the other agent in DC, said she hasn't received calls from clients trying to offload their farther-away homes or find new ones near work. She has, however, heard from people trying to figure out what to do who haven't taken action — yet.

"Yeah, people are nervous," she said. "People have lost their jobs. People haven't lost their jobs, but they're just worried about what's happening. The market doesn't like people afraid."

• Billionaire Ken Griffin bought a duplex in Manhattan for $45 million.
• Griffin owns over a quarter billion of real estate in New York City alone.
• The seller, Julia Koch, had been trying to sell the condo for three years.

Hedgefund manager and billionaire Ken Griffin continues his real-estate conquest after buying a historically significant duplex in Manhattan for $45 million.

The Wall Street Journal reported Griffin bought the approximately 8,500-square-foot condo from Julia Koch, the widow of late billionaire David Koch, for $15 million under its original asking price.

The Kochs purchased the condo in 2004 for around $17 million, according to the Journal, and first listed it in 2022 with a starting price of $60 million. In 2023, it was listed for $48 million.

Griffin is the CEO of the highly profitable hedge fund Citadel and famously ditched Illinois for Florida in 2022. He owns multiple properties in NYC.

The history of 740 Park Ave.

Griffin's latest Manhattan purchase is a five-bedroom duplex at 740 Park Avenue

The condominium was built in 1930 by American lawyer, banker, and real estate investor James T. Lee, who was grandfather to former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. She lived in the condominium as a child.

The building has been home to other notable tenants like John D. Rockefeller Jr. and former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

The Citadel CEO also owns a penthouse about a mile and a half away from 740 Park Avenue, which he bought in 2019 for a record-setting $238 million.

Griffin, who has a net worth of $43.4 billion, according to Forbes as of February, has spent more than $280 million on real estate in New York City alone. His real-estate footprint has also traveled south recently.

Griffin's recent real-estate deals

Between 2020 and 2023, he spent close to $169 million on properties on Star Island, an exclusive neighborhood in Miami Beach.

In 2022, he purchased two bayfront houses in Coconut Grove, a neighborhood in Miami, for over $100 million.

And over the last decade, he accumulated 27 acres for about $450 million in Palm Beach.

He's also offloaded a few properties.

In late 2024, Griffin sold the top two floors of a Chicago condo building for $19 million — taking a 44% loss after buying them for a combined $34 million in 2017.

Julia Koch is also investing in NYC real-estate

The seller of the Manhattan condo, Julia Koch, is worth $74.2 billion, according to Forbes, and has been on her own real-estate-transaction spree in the last few years.

According to Mansion Global, she bought two Manhattan co-ops for $101 million in 2022.

The next year, she sold a townhouse in Manhattan for $41 million in an off-market deal after buying it for $40.25 million in 2018.

• Homebuyers and renters have had plenty of frustrations in the last few years.
• However, affordability improved by one key measure in 2024.
• Here are 11 major US cities where buyers and renters can save more money.

Affordability remains a major problem in the US real-estate market, but buyers and renters are getting a bit more breathing room in several major cities.

Millions of Americans were less than thrilled with their living situations in 2024 — a year marked by limited property transactions due to stubbornly high mortgage rates and inflated home prices.

Those looking to buy houses largely held off, which frustrated the homeowners looking to move. Younger renters were especially unlikely to purchase property, and although they've benefited as rent has steadily fallen from its post-pandemic peaks, it's still much more costly than in 2019.

However, recently released rental data from Realtor.com shows a few silver linings for both homebuyers and renters. The research firm found that median rent in the US declined on a year-over-year basis for the 18th straight month, even though the drop was modest at -0.2%.

But the biggest takeaway is that affordability improved in a majority of the 50 largest US cities tracked by Realtor.com, as measured by the change in the share of money spent on housing.

Rent was a smaller percentage of budgets compared to 2023 in over 90% of major markets, Realtor.com found. And homebuyers put less of their income toward mortgage payments than they would have the year before in nearly two-thirds of the biggest metropolitan areas.

While massive cities like San Francisco and Miami aren't known for affordability, Realtor.com's findings indicate that buyers and renters there are able to save more money staying there than they would have a year prior, since the share of income going to landlords or lenders is smaller.

11 cities where affordability is improving

There are 11 cities where buyers and renters put a substantially smaller chunk of their money toward mortgages or rent on a percentage-of-income basis in 2024 versus the year before, according to Realtor.com. In each, the change in the share of income spent on buying or renting fell by at least 1.5 percentage points.

It's commonly accepted that people should spend 30% or less of their salary on housing costs. Buyers and renters are far exceeding that mark in some of the more expensive cities on this list, though everyone's financial situation is different.

Below are those markets — sorted by lowest rent to highest — along with each's median rent, the year-over-year change in rent, the share of income spent on rent and home purchases, and how that share has changed compared to the prior year.

1. Dallas

Median rent: $1,445

Year-over-year rent change: -3.5%

Share of income spent on rent: 19.5%

Change in share of income spent on rent: -2.1 percentage points

Share of income spent on buying: 29.3%

Change in share of income spent on buying: -1.7 percentage points

2. Austin

Median rent: $1,467

Year-over-year rent change: -4.8%

Share of income spent on rent: 17.2%

Change in share of income spent on rent: -2.4 percentage points

Share of income spent on buying: 30.3%

Change in share of income spent on buying: -4.2 percentage points

3. Richmond, Virginia

Median rent: $1,481

Year-over-year rent change: -0.3%

Share of income spent on rent: 20.3%

Change in share of income spent on rent: -1.5 percentage points

Share of income spent on buying: 30.2%

Change in share of income spent on buying: -2.2 percentage points

4. Phoenix

Median rent: $1,488

Year-over-year rent change: -3.5%

Share of income spent on rent: 20.4%

Change in share of income spent on rent: -2.1 percentage points

Share of income spent on buying: 36.6%

Change in share of income spent on buying: -2.2 percentage points

5. Jacksonville, Florida

Median rent: $1,510

Year-over-year rent change: -1%

Share of income spent on rent: 22.1%

Change in share of income spent on rent: -2.5 percentage points

Share of income spent on buying: 29.4%

Change in share of income spent on buying: -3.1 percentage points

6. Nashville

Median rent: $1,539

Year-over-year rent change: -2.5%

Share of income spent on rent: 21.7%

Change in share of income spent on rent: -1.7 percentage points

Share of income spent on buying: 38.6%

Change in share of income spent on buying: -2.8 percentage points

7. Tampa, Florida

Median rent: $1,710

Year-over-year rent change: -1.6%

Share of income spent on rent: 28.1%

Change in share of income spent on rent: -1.9 percentage points

Share of income spent on buying: 34%

Change in share of income spent on buying: -2 percentage points

8. Denver

Median rent: $1,796

Year-over-year rent change: -5.6%

Share of income spent on rent: 20.2%

Change in share of income spent on rent: -3 percentage points

Share of income spent on buying: 33.4%

Change in share of income spent on buying: -3 percentage points

9. Miami

Median rent: $2,328

Year-over-year rent change: -1.9%

Share of income spent on rent: 37.6%

Change in share of income spent on rent: -2.9 percentage points

Share of income spent on buying: 43.9%

Change in share of income spent on buying: -4.1 percentage points

10. San Diego

Median rent: $2,695

Year-over-year rent change: -4.8%

Share of income spent on rent: 31.4%

Change in share of income spent on rent: -3.4 percentage points

Share of income spent on buying: 57.7%

Change in share of income spent on buying: -2 percentage points

11. San Francisco

Median rent: $2,708

Year-over-year rent change: -3.3%

Share of income spent on rent: 24.3%

Change in share of income spent on rent: -1.9 percentage points

Share of income spent on buying: 41.4%

Change in share of income spent on buying: -2.7 percentage points

Renters have quietly enjoyed a nice run over the past two years. A historic wave of apartment construction has tamped down rents from their pandemic-era peak — last year developers finished the most units nationwide since 1974. With so many shiny high-rises hitting the market, landlords are fighting to fill their spaces, offering major discounts and perks to lure tenants. One housing economist even declared 2025 "the year of the resident."

But as the cost of building has increased, the number of cranes on the horizon has dwindled. Formerly eager developers are cutting back on fresh construction plans, laying the groundwork for another apartment squeeze. In other words, the good times for renters are running out.

Time's not up just yet. Developers are projected to deliver another half a million new apartments this year, down slightly from 2024, which should force property managers to focus on keeping their buildings full instead of jacking up rents. The outlook for renters, though, turns gloomier once you look at 2026 and beyond. Apartment supply boomed over the past few years, but demand kept pace — there's no glut of empty units. And the construction pipeline has slimmed down significantly since the glory days of cheap money, when it was easier for developers to secure loans for new projects. While plenty of rentals opened their doors in 2024, apartment builders broke ground on the fewest units in more than a decade.

"The available inventory of rental housing units may quickly tighten," says a recent report from RealPage, a software company that helps landlords set their rents. The real estate analytics firm Yardi Matrix has characterized 2025 as a "year fraught with change."

Translation: Snag those apartment deals while you can. They probably won't last much longer.

The past few years have been chaotic for apartment dwellers. Demand for apartments soared in 2021 as renters upgraded to bigger places, moved out of their parents' houses, or said goodbye to roommates in favor of solo living. This surge in "household formation" pushed up rents even as people decamped from crowded cities to single-family homes in the suburbs. Zillow found apartment rents rose by more than 20% nationally from 2020 through 2022. At the same time, though, developers were setting the stage for a reversal. At one point in 2022, more than a million new apartment units were under construction across the country. The rush of new builds came to fruition over the past two years: According to RealPage, developers opened a total of 440,000 units in 2023 and a record 588,900 last year, with another 500,000 expected to become available in 2025.

All those new buildings have kept prices in check; as the rental-housing economist Jay Parsons puts it, they "did what supply is supposed to do." With lots of new units on the market, renters have more choices and are less likely to tolerate steep rent hikes. Yardi Matrix's data indicates year-over-year rent growth has stayed under 1% over the past 16 months, well below the double-digit jumps of 2022. Landlord concessions — the months of free rent, free parking, and gift cards used to attract and retain tenants — are back in fashion. At the end of 2024, almost 13% of units nationwide were offering concessions, pretty close to the all-time highs from the early months of the pandemic, when hardly anyone wanted to move.

All kinds of renters — not just the high earners who can afford the latest and greatest in apartment construction — have benefited from this development boom. Landlords typically roll out concessions when they're trying to lease up new buildings, most of which are classified as "luxury" these days. But even long-standing buildings with cheaper apartments have been offering freebies to keep tenants from fleeing for greener pastures.

"It's just a simple supply-and-demand game," Carl Whitaker, the chief economist at RealPage, tells me. "As more supply delivers, you have to draw more traffic to your property, and that comes with these incentives."

The trouble for renters is that property managers may soon find those efforts unnecessary. Developers rely heavily on debt to finance new projects, and the Federal Reserve's interest-rate hikes have made those loans much more expensive, prompting a downturn in construction plans. Builders have been further deterred by the wave of new supply coming to market and the prospect of weaker rent growth at their properties. By doing so, they've laid the groundwork for another apartment shortage — and for rents to start climbing again.

"The pendulum is swinging dramatically," Parsons tells me. "Unfortunately, apartment construction has a tendency to be way too cyclical, and I don't think that's a great thing for renters or investors."

Predicting the economy's twists and turns may be hard, but forecasting new-apartment supply is pretty straightforward. If you know how many units are under construction today, you can reasonably estimate the new supply in a few years. These numbers point to a seismic shift in the rental landscape. Apartment construction starts dropped last year to the lowest level since 2013, per RealPage. This slowdown will soon start showing up in the number of new apartments coming to the market. Yardi Matrix expects 524,000 deliveries in 2025, but then only 414,000 in 2026 and 341,000 the year after. RealPage anticipates an even steeper drop-off, from 470,000 new units this year to 265,000 in 2026, with another decline the following year. Christopher Bruen, an economist at the National Multifamily Housing Council, wrote last year that this retreat was "likely to exacerbate our nation's housing shortage over the longer term."

US cities won't feel the effects of this pullback equally. Most of the apartments built during this construction renaissance are in the lower half of the country — Austin, Atlanta, Phoenix, and Houston, among others. Some metros in the mountain region, such as Denver and Salt Lake City, have also welcomed a lot of new apartments. Rents in these markets may be slower to rise again, but housing demand in these areas has also been higher than in other places around the country, so the relative relief may be short-lived. As for major coastal markets like New York, Boston, Seattle, and San Francisco, where land availability and permitting hurdles already make it harder to build apartments, it could be even tougher for renters. In a recent earnings call with investors, an executive at Equity Residential, one of the nation's largest apartment owners, described the reduction in supply as "even more dramatic" in these markets, where starts were down by 30% in 2023 and by nearly 60% in 2024.

"With 2025 starts projected to be down again, we anticipate one of the best supply-demand balances in our coastal markets that we have seen in a very long time," Alexander Brackenridge, the company's chief investment officer, said.

One complicating factor is construction delays. Doug Ressler, the manager of business intelligence at Yardi Matrix, says completions projected for 2025 may bleed into 2026 and even 2027 because of supply-chain snags or labor shortages, easing the pain for renters. The company expects rents to rise by a modest 1.5% this year, by 1.1% in 2026, and then by 3.3% in 2027. Parsons anticipates even bigger year-over-year growth, in the "mid-single digits," starting in 2026. That kind of increase is a far cry from the pandemic-era rent hikes, but it would still mean the end of this concession-laden era for renters.

If demand for apartments really picks up — if, say, people feel better about their economic prospects or decide that renting will get them more bang for their buck than buying — rent growth could climb even higher. Whitaker tells me it's still too early in the year to tell how many renters will seek out new units during the peak summer months, but there are already signs that this year could be hotter than last. In both November and December, leasing traffic — the number of prospective renters checking out new apartments — increased from a year prior. That may sound ho-hum, but it was the first time since early 2022 that leasing traffic notched two straight months of year-over-year growth.

"My interpretation is that we are going to see quite a bit of demand this summer," Whitaker tells me.

Are we doomed to repeat these cycles, waiting for any bit of housing relief to be revealed as a mirage? Parsons doesn't think so. He points to a national construction fund — which could provide cheaper debt for developers so they're less likely to pull back when interest rates rise — as a bipartisan solution that could smooth out this rental roller coaster. Absent that, though, renters are staring down yet another bumpy ride.

"It took a perfect storm of factors to drive this massive construction boom," Parsons tells me. "And now a lot of those factors have just gone away."

James Rodriguez is a senior reporter on Business Insider's Discourse team.

• Palm Beach's real-estate market is on fire.
• A vacant lot just relisted for $200 million, and sales of homes over $5 million have increased.
• Some brokers attribute the uptick to President Donald Trump's presence at Mar-a-Lago.

Florida may be the Sunshine State, but Palm Beach is having a moment in the spotlight. Some brokers say President Donald Trump could be the reason.

Take 1980 South Ocean Boulevard, a 2-acre vacant lot five minutes from the Trump-owned Mar-a-Lago on Palm Beach's "Billionaire's Row."

Its owner — a lawyer and real estate investor named Nathan Royce Silverstein with ties to New Jersey — tried to sell it before, asking $150 million in 2022. This week, he relisted it for $200 million.

Sure, there are renderings for a 20,000-square-foot-plus residence that are ready to show Palm Beach's Architectural Review Commission, and the two-parcel lot has frontage on both the Atlantic Ocean and the Intracoastal Waterway.

Still, a key difference between 2022 and 2025 is that now Trump is president.

Agents — including Margit Brandt, who represented the buyer in Palm Beach's most expensive sale of 2024, a man-made island that traded hands for $150 million — call it a "Trump bump."

"In the postelection era, like, Q1 of 2025, we're seeing a lot of these high-priced listings, but at the same time, a lot of action in the market," Brandt, Premier Estate Properties, told Business Insider. "These are not like hypothetical asking prices. We're seeing a lot of actual movement within the high end here."

"Palm Beach is a small island with big people," she added.

According to Douglas Elliman, the number of signed contracts for homes from $5 million to $9.99 million increased 157% — or from seven homes to 18 — from January 2024 to January 2025. And sales for homes $10 million or more increased by an even larger margin: Three homes were sold in January 2024, while 13 were sold the same month in 2025.

We're tracking the Palm Beach real estate boom as it happens. Below are some key properties and deals.

A spec mansion in Manalapan, Florida, is on the market at $285 million

A Florida home built on spec, meaning it's being built without a specific buyer in mind, hit the market in January at $285 million. It's currently the most expensive listing for a new home in the US and, if sold at that price, would be the most expensive sale in Palm Beach.

The proposed 50,000-square-foot home is in Manalapan, Florida, about 11 miles south of Palm Beach. It's on a lot next door to billionaire Larry Ellison's house, which he paid $173 million for in 2022.

The lot has 700 feet of Intracoastal and ocean frontage and will feature impressive amenities like a car museum, an indoor shooting range, and a bowling alley.

An advantage to buying a home that isn't built yet is that the plans can be altered, listing agent Nick Malinosky told Business Insider in January.

A vacant lot with plans for a new home is listed at $200 million

Two acres of undeveloped property in Palm Beach is on the market with a massive $200-million price tag.

The property boasts both oceanfront and private Intracoastal waterfrontage — which is one of the perks of the narrow strip of island that is Palm Beach.

Records show that the current owner, Nathan Royce Silverstein, who tried to sell the lot in 2022 for $150 million, bought the property in 1966 for an unknown price.

While there's nothing on the property now, the next buyer won't have to think too hard about what to do with it. Building plans and renderings have already been made and are ready to be submitted for approval.

2 oceanfront lots owned by Estée Lauder cosmetics billionaire heir, William P. Lauder, are listed for $200 million

Billionaire and heir to beauty brand Estée Lauder, William Lauder, found a buyer for his more than 2-acre oceanfront lots in Palm Beach after initially listing them for $200 million in 2023.

The offer for the lots — which Lauder bought in 2020 and 2021 — came in at $173 million in February. According to records, he purchased the first lot for $25.3 million and the second for an undisclosed amount.

The property has about 360 feet of direct ocean frontage, according to The Palm Beach Daily News.

If the sale were to close above $170 million, it'd set a new record that's stood since 2023.

A private island in Palm Beach sold for $152 million in 2024

In May 2024, a 28,600-square-foot home on a private island in Palm Beach, Florida, sold for a $152 million, a record for lakefront properties.

Palm Beach, Florida, is already an island, but Tarpon Island, where the home is located, offers an extra amount of seclusion.

As the only private island in Palm Beach, the property features two private decks, multiple pools, a waterfront gym, and a wellness facility complete with a massage room and a nail salon, according to Mansion Global.

Australian investor Michael Dorrell, the CEO and cofounder of investment firm Stonepeak, purchased the home, according to The Wall Street Journal.

• Some young people are being priced out of the lives they imagined for themselves.
• Gen Zers are racking up debt and struggling to afford buying a home or having kids.
• There are still steps young people can take to help achieve their dreams, says an Experian executive.

Young people are being priced out of the lives they pictured for themselves. Many Gen Zers, born between 1997 and 2012, are racking up debt and fear "adult" milestones such as becoming homeowners and having children are out of reach.

"Generation Z is deeply concerned about the feasibility of achieving the lives they envision," Jennifer Rubin, a senior researcher at education research group foundry10, told Business Insider.

"Rising costs of living, tuition fees, and an unstable job market have made milestones like homeownership, financial independence, and even career stability seem more out of reach than ever before."

Burden of borrowing

Gen Z has a debt problem.

As a group, they have roughly 30% more credit card debt than millennials did at their age even after inflation, TransUnion data shows. They're also the most likely cohort to max out credit cards and become delinquent on payments, New York Fed data shows.

Alyssa Schaefer, the general manager and chief experience officer of Keybank-owned Laurel Road, a digital banking platform, said uncertainty about repaying student loan debt is "having long-term implications on young people's financial milestones."

She cited a survey commissioned by her firm in partnership with Luminary, a professional education and networking platform, and conducted by Kantar this past fall.

Of the 1,714 US adults with private or federal student loans surveyed, 79% said they struggled to save for emergencies or retirement, 75% said they couldn't invest, 52% said they couldn't afford to buy a home, and 35% said they were delaying having children. Most respondents were aged 25 to 44, while responses were collected from ages 18 to 65-plus.

Locked out

Owning a home feels painfully out of reach for many young Americans.

Census data shows homeownership rates dropped from almost 44% in 2004 to 37% this past fall, and the percentage of adult children ages 25 to 34 still living at home climbed from under 11% in the early 2000s to 16% in 2023. That's at least partly a function of home prices racing to record levels and mortgage rates surging to two-decade highs.

Enrique Martínez García, the international group head of the Dallas Fed's research department, told BI that slower generational progress has "profound" social and economic consequences.

People taking longer to partner up and have kids can choke population and economic growth, he said. Those who can't afford a home are missing out on a reliable wealth-building strategy that underpins overall demand in the economy.

Pricing out people also prevents them from moving across the country to where their labor is most valued. They may also have fewer or no children and slimmer retirement savings, Martínez García said.

Family matters

Whether it's paying for day care, building a college fund, splurging on family vacations, or simply covering the living expenses of a whole other person or multiple people, having children comes with plenty of costs attached.

"The young people we interviewed were definitely worried about whether they would be able to earn enough to have families," Roberta Katz, a coauthor of "Gen Z Explained: The Art of Living in a Digital Age" and a senior research scholar at Stanford University, told BI.

A 2023 Pew Research Center survey of childless US adults under 50 found that among those who said they were unlikely to ever have kids, 36% said a major reason was they couldn't afford to raise them.

Modern temptations

It's easier than ever to waste money when apps like Instagram and TikTok serve as virtual shopping malls, influencers urge their followers to emulate their lavish lifestyles, and digital payment services like Apple Pay and Afterpay make buying things quick and painless.

Keisha Blair, a personal finance guru and author, told BI the "convenience of digital payments and online transactions makes impulsive spending more accessible than ever" for Gen Z.

"Social media further amplifies this, exposing them to a constant stream of influencers and aspirational lifestyles, fostering a culture of instant gratification and heightened consumerism," she added.

Blair said that Gen Zers who wind up in debt and fall behind on their payments could do harm to their credit scores. That could prevent them from obtaining financing for a car or home, and frustrate their efforts to build wealth and become financially independent, she said.

Laurel Road's Schaefer told BI that Instagram ads are so precisely targeted at her that she often clicks through and buys an item. But when she fears she's making an impulse purchase, she'll leave the product in her cart for at least 24 hours to give her time to decide whether she really wants it.

How to achieve your dreams

Young people may feel like the odds are stacked against them, but they can still take "concrete steps to achieve their dreams," Rod Griffin, Experian's senior director of consumer education and advocacy, told BI.

He recommended taking control by drawing up and sticking to a budget, setting achievable goals, seeking professional guidance if needed, cutting back on impulse purchases, and eliminating "sneaky expenses" such as subscription fees.

Gen Zers can also disregard the goals of past generations and focus on fulfilling their own ones instead. Elizabeth Husserl, author of "The Power of Enough: Finding Joy in Your Relationship with Money," told BI that achieving classic adult milestones isn't always as rewarding as people expect.

Young people can be more intentional and prioritize "meaning, sufficiency, and fulfillment over relentless striving," Husserl said. Once they're clear about what truly matters to them, they might opt to co-live to cut their housing costs or pursue alternative education to avoid racking up debt, she said.

They can "redefine wealth on their own terms," perhaps by buying a house with a friend, or eschewing the corporate grind in favor of side hustles that offer flexibility and align with their personal values, she added.

• Property values fell by about 2% in January as mortgage rates remained high.
• Buyers appear to be waiting for affordability to improve.
• Here are 31 cities that are getting the most attention from buyers so far in 2025.

The US housing market is still in hibernation mode as aspiring homebuyers continue to hold out for lower mortgage rates and property prices, though some markets are as popular as ever.

A seasonally quieter stretch in the real-estate market is off to a sleepy start. Home prices slid 2.2% in January from the year before, Realtor.com researchers noted late last month, in part because the 30-year fixed mortgage rate had topped 7% for the first time in over seven months. Borrowing costs are now at 6.9%, still higher than the 6.6% rate in early 2024.

Slightly cheaper property prices may help some buyers get their feet in the doors of new houses. But if mortgage rates remain this restrictive, many more may still be sidelined. That would mean falling home values are both a letdown for owners and not enough to help would-be owners.

"Buyers are really facing a double-whammy on affordability at this point," said Hannah Jones, a senior economic research analyst at Realtor.com, in a recent interview. On the national level, she said succinctly that "the typical buyer cannot afford the typical home."

Surging home inventory is also weighing on prices. Housing construction has boomed, which contributes to the 24.6% annual jump in active listings that Realtor.com observed in January. Having more options makes buyers choosier, as they don't have to buy the first home they see.

However, there are signs that this frosty market is thawing — at least in certain regions.

31 highly popular cities among buyers

Although higher mortgage rates are a headache, buyers have still flocked to a few dozen cities so far this year.

Realtor.com just published its updated list of the hottest US housing markets, which is based on how long home listings stay on the market and how in-demand they are, as measured by traffic on its website. The more unique property views, the higher a city's ranking is.

Home listings in the 20 most in-demand markets received about 2.6 times the demand of typical US homes last month, and sold three weeks earlier than the US median property. That strong demand drove prices up 1.5% from the year before in January.

What's fascinating is that all 20 of those hot cities were in either the Northeast or Midwest, which differs from Business Insider's research showing that eight of the 10 most-popular cities of 2024 were in the Southeast. However, Jones remarked that Northeast and Midwest markets have stood out since mid-2022, which is when mortgage rates first spiked.

"The Midwest, and some of these Northeast markets, are just outright affordable, relative to the rest of the US," Jones said. "Relative to local incomes, they're also relatively affordable. These are areas that just would appeal to anyone locally or elsewhere because homes are relatively low-priced."

While some of these hot markets are much more expensive than the US median price of $400,500, Jones noted that they're still a good deal compared to nearby cities. For example, the hottest location in January was Manchester, New Hampshire, which has a median home value of $578,975 that's far cheaper than nearby Boston's typical price tag of $799,450.

Buyers looking to leave major cities often look to nearby markets. When that happens in droves, it drives that town's relatively low prices far higher — creating a paradox of sorts.

"In these more affordable markets, inventory is still really low relative to pre-pandemic," Jones said. "Which means that a lot of buyer demand is coming into relatively few homes."

Notably absent from Realtor.com's list of hottest markets is the Sun Belt region, which boomed early in the pandemic but has since seen prices come back to earth as supply started to surge.

"They got so hot and so popular that prices were able to rise to a point that buyers would no longer participate once mortgage rates came up," Jones said of properties in Sun Belt cities. "Prices are still really high in a lot of those markets, but inventory levels are high."

Home supply in those 20 hot markets rose 12.7% to start the year, and while that's a substantial jump, it's nearly half the rate of the national median. Also, there are about half as many home listings in these popular cities as there were before the pandemic.

Business Insider examined Realtor.com's data further and found that the 31 most popular cities in January were all either in the Northeast or Midwest, and 22 are cheaper than the US median.

Below are those markets, along with the multiple of property viewership versus the US median, the median days on the market in early 2024 and 2025, and the median listing price as well as how it compares to the US median price of $400,500.

1. Manchester, New Hampshire

Property viewership vs US median: 3.6x

Median days on the market: 46 days

Median days on the market last year: 44 days

Median listing price: $578,975

Savings vs the US median: -$178,475

2. Hartford, Connecticut

Property viewership vs US median: 4.1x

Median days on the market: 51 days

Median days on the market last year: 53 days

Median listing price: $408,375

Savings vs the US median: -$7,875

3. Kenosha, Wisconsin

Property viewership vs US median: 2.9x

Median days on the market: 45 days

Median days on the market last year: 45 days

Median listing price: $334,675

Savings vs the US median: $65,825

4. Norwich, Connecticut

Property viewership vs US median: 3.1x

Median days on the market: 52 days

Median days on the market last year: 51 days

Median listing price: $384,450

Savings vs the US median: $16,050

5. Worcester, Massachusetts

Property viewership vs US median: 2.6x

Median days on the market: 50 days

Median days on the market last year: 45 days

Median listing price: $527,425

Savings vs the US median: -$126,925

6. Concord, New Hampshire

Property viewership vs US median: 3.5x

Median days on the market: 53 days

Median days on the market last year: 58 days

Median listing price: $541,200

Savings vs the US median: -$140,700

7. Rockford, Illinois

Property viewership vs US median: 3x

Median days on the market: 53 days

Median days on the market last year: 56 days

Median listing price: $235,450

Savings vs the US median: $165,050

8. Lancaster, Pennsylvania

Property viewership vs US median: 2.4x

Median days on the market: 50 days

Median days on the market last year: 47 days

Median listing price: $408,640

Savings vs the US median: -$8,140

9. Providence, Rhode Island

Property viewership vs US median: 2.4x

Median days on the market: 52 days

Median days on the market last year: 54 days

Median listing price: $521,175

Savings vs the US median: -$120,675

10. Rochester, New York

Property viewership vs US median: 2.5x

Median days on the market: 53 days

Median days on the market last year: 34 days

Median listing price: $258,450

Savings vs the US median: $142,050

11. Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Property viewership vs US median: 2.1x

Median days on the market: 51 days

Median days on the market last year: 46 days

Median listing price: $362,500

Savings vs the US median: $38,000

12. Racine, Wisconsin

Property viewership vs US median: 2.2x

Median days on the market: 52 days

Median days on the market last year: 56 days

Median listing price: $334,900

Savings vs the US median: $65,600

13. Springfield, Massachusetts

Property viewership vs US median: 2.9x

Median days on the market: 56 days

Median days on the market last year: 45 days

Median listing price: $328,161

Savings vs the US median: $72,339

14. Reading, Pennsylvania

Property viewership vs US median: 2x

Median days on the market: 50 days

Median days on the market last year: 52 days

Median listing price: $330,000

Savings vs the US median: $70,500

15. Boston, Massachusetts

Property viewership vs US median: 2.3x

Median days on the market: 56 days

Median days on the market last year: 53 days

Median listing price: $799,450

Savings vs the US median: -$398,950

16. Peoria, Illinois

Property viewership vs US median: 2x

Median days on the market: 53 days

Median days on the market last year: 59 days

Median listing price: $143,400

Savings vs the US median: $257,100

17. Bloomington, Illinois

Property viewership vs US median: 2.4x

Median days on the market: 58 days

Median days on the market last year: 81 days

Median listing price: $291,000

Savings vs the US median: $109,500

18. Toledo, Ohio

Property viewership vs US median: 1.9x

Median days on the market: 52 days

Median days on the market last year: 50 days

Median listing price: $219,950

Savings vs the US median: $180,550

19. Oshkosh, Wisconsin

Property viewership vs US median: 3x

Median days on the market: 60 days

Median days on the market last year: 48 days

Median listing price: $304,900

Savings vs the US median: $95,600

20. Canton, Ohio

Property viewership vs US median: 1.9x

Median days on the market: 52 days

Median days on the market last year: 56 days

Median listing price: $237,075

Savings vs the US median: $163,425

21. New Haven, Connecticut

Property viewership vs US median: 3.1x

Median days on the market: 62 days

Median days on the market last year: 56 days

Median listing price: $439,950

Savings vs the US median: -$39,450

22. Columbus, Ohio

Property viewership vs US median: 2.1x

Median days on the market: 59 days

Median days on the market last year: 55 days

Median listing price: $340,725

Savings vs the US median: $59,775

23. Akron, Ohio

Property viewership vs US median: 2.2x

Median days on the market: 59 days

Median days on the market last year: 53 days

Median listing price: $199,950

Savings vs the US median: $200,550

24. York, Pennsylvania

Property viewership vs US median: 1.6x

Median days on the market: 52 days

Median days on the market last year: 59 days

Median listing price: $357,250

Savings vs the US median: $43,250

25. Waterbury, Connecticut

Property viewership vs US median: 2.8x

Median days on the market: 63 days

Median days on the market last year: 63 days

Median listing price: $375,000

Savings vs the US median: $25,500

26. Ann Arbor, Michigan

Property viewership vs US median: 1.7x

Median days on the market: 54 days

Median days on the market last year: 69 days

Median listing price: $459,495

Savings vs the US median: -$58,995

27. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

Property viewership vs US median: 1.8x

Median days on the market: 56 days

Median days on the market last year: 54 days

Median listing price: $349,450

Savings vs the US median: $51,050

28. Dayton, Ohio

Property viewership vs US median: 1.8x

Median days on the market: 57 days

Median days on the market last year: 51 days

Median listing price: $228,000

Savings vs the US median: $172,500

29. Allentown, Pennsylvania

Property viewership vs US median: 1.8x

Median days on the market: 58 days

Median days on the market last year: 52 days

Median listing price: $372,450

Savings vs the US median: $28,050

30. Topeka, Kansas

Property viewership vs US median: 1.7x

Median days on the market: 58 days

Median days on the market last year: 57 days

Median listing price: $219,900

Savings vs the US median: $180,600

31. Springfield, Illinois

Property viewership vs US median: 1.9x

Median days on the market: 59 days

Median days on the market last year: 52 days

Median listing price: $173,425

Savings vs the US median: $227,075

• Rep. Ilhan Omar said she barely has "thousands let alone millions" in a X post about her net worth.
• The member of AOC's "Squad" said she doesn't own stocks or a house and still has student loans.
• Commenters on X reacted to Omar's post with everything from skepticism to appreciation.

Rep. Ilhan Omar said she hardly has "thousands let alone millions," doesn't own stocks or a house, and is still repaying her student loans, sparking reactions from X users ranging from disbelief to reluctant respect.

Omar is perhaps best known as a member of the "Squad" of progressive House members along with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, known as AOC.

The Minnesota lawmaker emulated her New York colleague by publicly discussing her personal finances this week, after an X user claimed both Democratic congresswomen were worth tens of millions of dollars, and accused Ocasio-Cortez of taking bribes.

Ocasio-Cortez replied that she's worth less than $500,000, doesn't earn any income beside her government salary, and doesn't own a house or trade individual stocks.

Omar said the user was lying about her net worth too. She pointed to her past financial disclosures as proof of her modest wealth, and added a facepalm emoji.

"Since getting elected, there has been a coordinated right-wing disinformation campaign claiming all sorts of wild things, including the ridiculous claim I am worth millions of dollars which is categorically false," Omar told Business Insider.

"I am a working mom with student loan debt. Unlike some of my colleagues — and similar to most Americans — I am not a millionaire and am raising a family while maintaining a residence in both Minneapolis and DC, which are among the most expensive housing markets in the country," she added.

The Democratic legislator was born in Somalia, moved to the US as a refugee in 1995, and has been a House member since 2019. She earns the standard congressional salary of $174,000 a year.

Omar's financial disclosure form last year showed up to $65,000 of assets, split across a congressional savings account and a Minnesota state retirement account. She also reported between $15,0001 and $50,000 of outstanding student loans dating back to 2005. Like Ocasio-Cortez, she might hold additional funds in accounts that don't need to be disclosed.

The form also showed funds attributed to her spouse, a political consultant named Tim Mynett. He disclosed up to $143,000 of assets and up to about $54,000 of income, linked to various individual retirement accounts (IRA) and 401 (k) retirement savings plans, a winery, and a venture capital firm.

Gauging the reaction

One X user, @beetle6000, said in response to Omar's post: "How could you still be paying off student loans making that much money?"

Others said they disagreed with Omar's politics but respected her integrity, echoing reactions to Ocasio-Cortez's similar post.

"I usually don't agree with you but on this, until they produce receipts I have to agree," @adryenn wrote.

@AidenPerrin40 wrote: "You and I disagree on 99.9% of issues but … Major respect to you ma'am for not owning any stock. It's important to give credit to those of which we disagree with when they get it right."

@nrghound wrote: "I disagree with Omar politically, but I'm sure she's telling the truth about her income. The Democrat Senators make a ton of money narrative is circulating right now. It feels like a hit piece to me."

Some just seemed to enjoy what seemed like refreshing transparency.

@runningmoron wrote: "I kind of like this era of congress people talking about how broke they are."

Politicians face fresh scrutiny as Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency searches for fraud, waste, and abuse.

In a Tuesday press conference, the Tesla CEO and close advisor to President Donald Trump said it was "rather odd" that government employees earning salaries of a few hundred thousand dollars could grow their net worth into the tens of millions while in their roles, but didn't offer any examples.

Musk said he thinks "the reality is that they're getting wealthy at the taxpayers' expense, that's the honest truth of it."

Correction: February 12, 2025 — An earlier version of this story misstated the date of the press conference. It took place on Tuesday, not Wednesday.

• Kofi Nartey was the listing agent for Michael Jordan's Chicago mansion for 11 months in 2015.
• Nartey figured out ways to generate buzz that led to more showings, but didn't land Jordan a buyer.
• The mansion finally sold for $9.5 million in 2024 after 12 years on the market.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with real-estate agent Kofi Nartey 49, who was one of the listing agents for Michael Jordan's mansion in Highland Park, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. The over-the-top home went on the market for $29 million in 2012 and finally sold for $14.85 million in 2024 with another broker. The conversation was edited for length and clarity.

The Jordan estate had been on the market for about seven years prior to me coming on board.

I've represented a handful of famous clients, like Nick Young, Jason Kidd, Neve Campbell, Matt Kemp, and Kevin Durant.

The goal was to speak to the avatar of the potential buyer: Who would want the story that comes with owning a trophy property like that? The buyer of this property is going to walk away from the closing table, text his buddies, and say, "Dude, I just bought MJ's house."

Someone gets to tell that story, gets to leverage that story. It becomes not only a talking point, but a source of connections, a source of storytelling, a source of business opportunities, and more. Even if that's not your main purpose, it's an ancillary benefit that can't be ignored and that I wanted to promote.

Jordan put his own stamp on the mansion

A lot of the homes we deal with are one-of-one custom builds built specifically for the client. We use the typical "comp" analysis when we're running numbers to get a baseline, and then we adjust up or down based on different attributes of the property.

There was no way to capture the true value of Michael Jordan's estate based on comparable properties. The best houses in the neighborhood are maybe 10,000 square feet. This one is 56,000 square feet — there's no real comp for it.

Because he was such a huge public figure, he wanted to be able to enjoy himself in his own home without having to face paparazzi and hang out with his family.

You've earned the right to customize the hell out of the house, so make it your own and enjoy it.

Jordan had a 23 on the gate. The house has its own full-court gym, full training facilities, cigar lounges, and a swimming pool shaped like a basketball hoop. It has its own pond stocked with fish. It has a par-three golf hole. It has a whole hair salon for his wife.

You're doing yourself a disservice by trying to normalize those things. If anything, you have to lean into those differentiators — capture that story and tell it the right way.

I wanted to raise the house's profile in the hopes of landing a buyer

The call to get the listing wasn't surreal.

The call that was surreal was when Michael Jordan himself called me.

He called me to tell me a little bit more about the vision and answer a few questions I had to extract the story behind building such an amazing property.

It was not just selling another house, not just selling a bigger, better property in the neighborhood. The idea of selling a legendary estate, a trophy property, hadn't fully been embraced.

I wanted to begin repositioning the marketing strategy by changing the price. I picked numbers that added up to the number 23: $14,855,000. That became international news alone.

I offered prospective buyers a pair of each Jordan shoe that had come out in the buyer's size if they bought the home. That made international news.

The pricing strategy was more than fair. It was just a matter of capturing the right story to bring in the right buyer.

I would get calls directly from qualified buyers asking about it. I would also get a lot of silly and fun calls like, "Hey, can I play Michael one-on-one for the house?"

We have some markets and some properties that take two or three years to sell. It's not very common, but some do take more time.

I didn't get a chance to close the deal, but I think I could have

I only had the listing for 11 months in 2015.

I changed companies and the listing stayed with the old company — and then that company lost the listing.

I think given a little bit longer, we would've been able to get the deal done. Given the initial momentum and increase in visibility — the increase in excitement and showings — I think we would have been able to get more than $9.5 million.

At the end of the day, the number that it sells for is the number that everyone agrees to. That's what a buyer decided they were willing to pay, and what Michael Jordan was willing to sell it for.

But I also think that there are some things that can always be done differently to squeeze a bit more value out of a property like that.

• Those who procrastinated on property purchases may be kicking themselves.
• Both mortgage rates and home values have risen in the past year.
• However, there are 16 US markets where prices are below the median and falling.

Although aspiring homeowners may have thought it was smart to put off purchases last year, that decision seems to have backfired.

Home affordability was challenged again in 2024, which real-estate analyst Ivy Zelman said was the toughest year for first-time buyers in four decades.

Mortgage rates are even more restrictive now than they were 12 months ago. Thirty-year fixed rates are at 6.9%, up from 6.6% last February and far higher than the late-September lows of 6.1%, while 15-year rates are at 6.1% compared to 5.9% at this time in 2024.

Home values have also risen substantially in that span. The going rate for existing single-family homes in the fourth quarter was $410,100, which was 4.8% higher than the year prior — though it's modestly lower than the peak of $422,100 in the second quarter.

Property price appreciation has been widespread. Last quarter, home prices were up in 89% of the 226 US markets tracked by the National Association of Realtors, the firm revealed in a February 6 report. And 14% of US cities saw sale values rise at a double-digit pace, which was twice the rate of the prior quarter. Only 23 cities saw prices head in buyers' direction.

Buyers hoping to settle down in the Northeast or Midwest may be most frustrated. Prices rose 10.6% and 8%, respectively, in those regions, versus 4% in the West and 2.1% in the South.

In the last five years, mortgage rates have almost exactly doubled from just under 3.5%, and median property prices are up 49.9%, according to the NAR. Home values will almost certainly never fall that far again, and it's unlikely that mortgage rates get back there anytime soon.

That's especially tough news for those who want to build home equity sooner rather than later.

"Renters who are looking to transition into homeownership face significant hurdles," said Lawrence Yun, the NAR's chief economist, in a statement for his firm's quarterly housing report.

16 top cities for buyers on a budget

Even in this challenging market, there are some silver linings for buyers.

Home affordability might not be spiraling, according to the NAR, which found that monthly mortgage payments were actually down for existing homes on 20% down payments. The firm said the typical rate was $2,124, which is 1.7% lower than in late 2023 and 0.8% less than in Q3. Owners also put less than 25% of their income toward mortgages — just below past levels.

Another promising sign is that there are several markets where houses are both cheaper than the national median and falling on a year-over-year basis.

Below are those metropolitan areas along with their yearly change and price history, with median sale values for every quarter of 2024, the projected level for 2024 as a whole, and the median value for the fourth quarter of 2023.

1. Punta Gorda, Florida

Year-over-year price change: -5.7%

Median home price in Q4 2024: $350,000

Median home price in Q3 2024: $350,000

Median home price in Q2 2024: $380,000

Median home price in Q1 2024: $379,800

Projected home price throughout 2024: $364,000

Median home price in Q4 2023: $371,000

2. Greenville, South Carolina

Year-over-year price change: -5.6%

Median home price in Q4 2024: $332,200

Median home price in Q3 2024: $341,500

Median home price in Q2 2024: $338,800

Median home price in Q1 2024: $326,900

Projected home price throughout 2024: $335,500

Median home price in Q4 2023: $351,800

3. Glens Falls, New York

Year-over-year price change: -4.7%

Median home price in Q4 2024: $265,400

Median home price in Q3 2024: $279,500

Median home price in Q2 2024: $270,100

Median home price in Q1 2024: $236,200

Projected home price throughout 2024: $266,800

Median home price in Q4 2023: $278,400

4. Spartanburg, South Carolina

Year-over-year price change: -2.7%

Median home price in Q4 2024: $286,500

Median home price in Q3 2024: $297,700

Median home price in Q2 2024: $298,300

Median home price in Q1 2024: $292,700

Projected home price throughout 2024: $293,800

Median home price in Q4 2023: $294,600

5. Cape Coral/Fort Myers, Florida

Year-over-year price change: -2.6%

Median home price in Q4 2024: $214,100

Median home price in Q3 2024: $229,000

Median home price in Q2 2024: $249,100

Median home price in Q1 2024: $205,100

Projected home price throughout 2024: $224,100

Median home price in Q4 2023: $219,800

6. Bowling Green, Kentucky

Year-over-year price change: -2.4%

Median home price in Q4 2024: $277,100

Median home price in Q3 2024: $282,300

Median home price in Q2 2024: $277,500

Median home price in Q1 2024: $267,200

Projected home price throughout 2024: $276,300

Median home price in Q4 2023: $283,900

7. Lakeland, Florida

Year-over-year price change: -2.4%

Median home price in Q4 2024: $327,400

Median home price in Q3 2024: $329,900

Median home price in Q2 2024: $335,000

Median home price in Q1 2024: $333,300

Projected home price throughout 2024: $330,200

Median home price in Q4 2023: $335,600

8. Wichita Falls, Texas

Year-over-year price change: -2.4%

Median home price in Q4 2024: $192,200

Median home price in Q3 2024: $186,500

Median home price in Q2 2024: $201,800

Median home price in Q1 2024: $188,900

Projected home price throughout 2024: $192,400

Median home price in Q4 2023: $196,900

9. Lubbock, Texas

Year-over-year price change: -2.2%

Median home price in Q4 2024: $225,100

Median home price in Q3 2024: $234,900

Median home price in Q2 2024: $234,900

Median home price in Q1 2024: $230,400

Projected home price throughout 2024: $231,900

Median home price in Q4 2023: $230,100

10. Sherman, Texas

Year-over-year price change: -1.9%

Median home price in Q4 2024: $279,800

Median home price in Q3 2024: $305,300

Median home price in Q2 2024: $290,900

Median home price in Q1 2024: $284,600

Projected home price throughout 2024: $290,100

Median home price in Q4 2023: $285,200

11. Corpus Christi, Texas

Year-over-year price change: -1.3%

Median home price in Q4 2024: $272,600

Median home price in Q3 2024: $278,000

Median home price in Q2 2024: $282,400

Median home price in Q1 2024: $266,600

Projected home price throughout 2024: $275,300

Median home price in Q4 2023: $276,300

12. Tampa/St. Petersburg/Clearwater, Florida

Year-over-year price change: -1%

Median home price in Q4 2024: $406,000

Median home price in Q3 2024: $410,000

Median home price in Q2 2024: $420,000

Median home price in Q1 2024: $405,200

Projected home price throughout 2024: $412,500

Median home price in Q4 2023: $410,000

13. Huntsville, Alabama

Year-over-year price change: -0.9%

Median home price in Q4 2024: $330,500

Median home price in Q3 2024: $326,200

Median home price in Q2 2024: $325,300

Median home price in Q1 2024: $313,900

Projected home price throughout 2024: $324,000

Median home price in Q4 2023: $333,500

14. Anniston, Alabama

Year-over-year price change: -0.8%

Median home price in Q4 2024: $187,400

Median home price in Q3 2024: $189,300

Median home price in Q2 2024: $185,300

Median home price in Q1 2024: $179,100

Projected home price throughout 2024: $185,600

Median home price in Q4 2023: $188,900

15. Deltona/Daytona Beach, Florida

Year-over-year price change: -0.8%

Median home price in Q4 2024: $359,500

Median home price in Q3 2024: $355,000

Median home price in Q2 2024: $365,000

Median home price in Q1 2024: $360,000

Projected home price throughout 2024: $360,000

Median home price in Q4 2023: $362,400

16. San Antonio, Texas

Year-over-year price change: -0.4%

Median home price in Q4 2024: $314,500

Median home price in Q3 2024: $321,100

Median home price in Q2 2024: $321,800

Median home price in Q1 2024: $305,800

Projected home price throughout 2024: $316,400

Median home price in Q4 2023: $315,700