Realtor.com; Getty Images Not a day seems to go by without a housing market headline breaking down a new set of real estate data: Mortgage rates soar above 7%! Home prices drop! Housing stock hits a four-year high! Homebuyers and sellers might get whiplash trying to figure out what it means for them. But, it is possible to figure out who is in the driver’s seat in the real estate market. Sometimes, it’s the seller. Once in a blue moon, buyers will be in control or the market is balanced. And, believe it or not—often neither buyers nor sellers are in control. When the latter happens, it’s call ..read more

Rodrigo Varela/Getty Images for Veronica Beard; Realtor.com Karolina Kurkova appears to be ready to move on from her ritzy condo in the Miami Beach area, listing it for $6.9 million. The former Victoria’s Secret model has listed the four-bedroom, 4.5-bath unit on Fisher Island for $6.9 million, according to the Daily Mail. The ultraexclusive island is a 216-acre land mass that’s accessible only by yacht or passenger ferry. The island-bound vessel is open only to residents, their guests, and the wealthy few staying at a swanky hotel on the island. The condo building was put up i ..read more

Getty Images Summer 2023 was the hottest on record, but a new report suggests that summer 2024 will be even more sweltering. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, this past month was the warmest April noted, and the 11th straight month of record-breaking hot temperatures. Based on its predictive models, the NOAA believes there’s a 61% chance that this will be the hottest year in data history. Thanks to an expected El Niña weather pattern this summer—which would create cooler temperatures across the Pacific—the West might avoid some of the extreme temperatures it’s ..read more

Realtor.com A Midtown penthouse that sits prominently atop a skyscraping, 1,400-foot building is this week’s most expensive listing on Realtor.com®. The 8,255-square-foot residence in New York City offers six bedrooms, a library with wood-burning fireplace, a dining room overlooking Long Island Sound, and a gourmet chef’s kitchen with a built-in marble coffee bar. The apartment’s $24,012 monthly association fee includes access to a private restaurant, fitness center, indoor pool, massage room, billiard room, screening room, and playroom. Other pricey listings this week include an elegant ..read more

JC Olivera/Getty Images; Realtor.com Actress Alison Sweeney, best known for her longtime role on the daytime TV drama “Days of Our Lives,” is ready to rent out her gorgeous Los Angeles home. The posh perch offers panoramic views, four bedrooms, 3.5 baths, and nearly 4,000 square feet for $30,000 a month. City and canyon vistas serve up serious wow factor at the home, situated on a cul-de-sac in the famed Hollywood Hills. The pool and yard in the rear. Realtor.com Unbeatable views from the pool Realtor.com A large island fills the kitchen. Realtor.com Traditional decor rules the day here, incl ..read more

Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for TIME; Realtor.com Did Drew Barrymore score a fast sale on her Hamptons home? According to the NY Post, the actress and host of “The Drew Barrymore Show” has a pending sale on her dreamy Sagaponack, NY, estate. Although the pending contract hasn’t been finalized, meaning the sold price has yet to be revealed, Barrymore listed her seven-bedroom, six-bath property just weeks ago for $8,450,000. By the time Memorial Day weekend rolled, a certain discerning buyer quickly made an offer on this classic, shingled barn turned home. Built in 1920, the home has charm for day ..read more

Getty Images The United States needs at least 1.5 million additional homes, and likely many more, to relieve the nation’s housing shortage, according to Freddie Mac. In the first quarter of 2024, the homeowner vacancy rate dropped to 0.8% from 0.9% the prior quarter, the mortgage buyer said in a recent report on the housing market. That’s well below the 1.6% average vacancy rate recorded from 1994 to 2003, the period the report uses as a basis for comparison, and near the all-time low hit earlier last year. Meanwhile, the rental vacancy rate remained flat for the third straight quarter at 6.6 ..read more

Realtor.com; Getty Images (1) Mortgage rates shot back up this week, with the average rate for a 30-year fixed home loan rising from 6.94% last week to 7.03% for the week ending May 30, according to Freddie Mac. “Following several weeks of decline, mortgage rates changed course this week,” Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist, said in a statement. “More hawkish commentary about inflation and tepid demand for longer-dated Treasury auctions caused market yields to rise across the board. This reality, as well as economic signals that have moved sideways over the last few weeks, have re ..read more

Getty Images The numbers: Pending home sales plunged in April as buyers felt the effects of an expensive housing market. With home prices and mortgage rates rising, buyers seem to be pulling back on signing contracts on homes for sale. Pending home sales fell 7.7% in April from the previous month, according to the monthly index released Thursday by the National Association of Realtors. Pending home sales reflect transactions where the contract has been signed for the resale of a home, but the sale has not yet closed. Economists view it as an indicator of the direction of sales of existin ..read more

Courtesy of Sara Stewart with Sarah Strunk Photography/Kirby Home Designs; Cate Black Photography/Kelly Design Group Summertime is the ideal season to tackle some home improvement projects, and a new study reveals what we’re itching to upgrade the most. Home design site Houzz just released its Emerging Summer Trends report, where the pros have analyzed data on the most-searched terms for the site, measuring year-over-year growth from January-March 2024 versus January-March 2023. The results reveal that today’s homeowners are eager to carve out spaces where they can relax, read a book, an ..read more