The tenant screener violated the Fair Housing Act for years as it doled out disproportionately low risk scores to Black and Hispanic rental applicants with housing vouchers, a new federal lawsuit says.

The median price of homes in so-called “opportunity zones”, or areas that have been designated as “economically challenged” are seeing price increases that mirror the rest of the U.S. housing market, according to a new report from ATTOM Data Solutions.

The report finds that the median single-family and condo price made gains in 55% of opportunity zones nationwide between the fourth quarter of 2021 and the first quarter of this year. What’s more, in half of those areas, home prices rose by at least 20% annually.

ATTOM said median values are up by more than 16.6% in around half of all opportunity zones. The opportunity zones were established under President Donald Trump through the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. Under that act, investors in opportunity zones would be entitled to tax breaks in exchange for making long-term investments that aim to revitalize federally-designated neighborhoods across the country.

ATTOM’s executive vice president of market intelligence, Rick Sharga, said home price trends in opportunity zones have mirrored those in the wider housing market. “Strong price growth has helped homeowners in these economically-challenged areas benefit from higher equity, and should contribute to the ongoing redevelopment of these areas,” he said.

While the price increases suggest that the opportunity zones policy is working, it’s important to note that home values in these areas are still much lower than most other neighborhoods in the U.S. For instance, opportunity zone home values were on average much less than the national median home price of $320,500. Indeed, the median home value in 51% of opportunity zones was less than $200,000, the report found.

This week, Byron Lazine and Nicole White discuss real estate-based reality shows, Google searches for "housing bubble" and NAR spending.

Six branding experts share their thoughts on Realogy's rebrand strategy, including its May soft launch and unique domain name, while sharing what the next steps should be.

The playful renovation preserved many of the home’s original details, but emphasized carefree weekend living.

Members of the AAPI community are carrying an undue burden in their quest to build financial wealth through homeownership. As members of the real estate community, it is our job to support homeownership for all.

We talk a lot about mindset and the importance of thinking big, but is that always the right move? Team leader Adam Hergenrother helps you determine how to think big where and how it really counts.

Set yourself up for future success and thoughtfully create a business that will stand the test of time. Million Dollar Listing LA stars David Parnes and James Harris give steps to intentionally create structure, strategy and synergy.

During its tenure, REX made a lot of noise in court, but not so much in the marketplace. Now, as they appear to have bowed out of the fight, at least in part, Jay Thompson is left wondering what all of the fuss was about.

Housing styles took a sharp turn away from traditional styles with the introduction of Art Deco design, and a new age in home architecture came on the scene. Gerard Splendore spells out what you should know about homes from this period.

As workers return to the office, some companies have relocated to ease the commute.

A two-bedroom condominium unit in Santa Barbara, a 1937 Art Deco house in San Francisco and a 1994 retreat in San Juan Capistrano.

Ask Brian is a weekly column by Real Estate Expert Brian Kline. If you have questions on real estate investing, DIY, home buying/selling, or other housing inquiries please email your questions to askbrian@realtybiznews.com.

Question from William in NE: Hi Brian, I’m a 67-year-old widower that will be retiring in seven months. I have no more use for my big four-bedroom two-story home. I’m going to sell it shortly after I retire. The house is paid for and I’m well aware that my retirement dream is supposed to be having a fully paid for the home when my paychecks stop. However, I’m starting to think that might not be what I really want. I see some appeal to renting a ground-floor apartment and leaving all the yard work and maintenance to a landlord. Is my thinking getting screwy as I get older and close to retirement?

Answer: Hi William. Your thinking doesn’t sound at all screwy to me. It sounds to me that you are in a good place because you get to decide what you want to do and where you want to live during retirement. First of all, at age 67, your next home might not be your last home. So, keep thinking about what else could be in your future. What homeownership has done for you at this point in your life is give you a lot of options to consider.

At this stage in your life, real estate probably isn’t as important as an investment as it was before. You own that investment and now is the time to decide what to do with it. Many people think the best economical decision is to stay in the house that is paid off. But it sounds like you have already decided that is not the answer for you. The house sounds too big for one person, also by the time it is paid off is often when some major repairs are needed, and a two-story house is not ideal for older people. So, your decision is to either rent or buy another home.

The place to begin is by deciding what type of home you want to live in and crunching some numbers. Unless you are thinking about an extravagant upgrade, the numbers should work in your favor. A ground-floor condo or a smaller one-story house seems to be the best choice for you to consider. You should be able to buy either one and still have money left over from selling your big house that you can invest to generate some retirement income. A ground-floor condo with a porch would make it easy to do your shopping or pack the car for road trips. A condo means someone else does the maintenance and repairs to the shared areas, but you would still be responsible for the unit that you own.

Sellers are getting worried that they could miss the home buying frenzy and are consequently accelerating their timelines to try and sell up before demand softens too much. As home inventory is a variable factor in today’s real estate market.

There are some important signs that the real estate market is slowing across the U.S. Data shows that both existing home and new homes sales have declined recently, while pending home sales are also lower, according to the latest index that tracks these things.

Moreover, we’re seeing more homes on the market. The inventory of for-sale homes jumped 9% last week compared to one year ago, according to realtor.com. New listings have grown at almost double the rate they were coming onto the market in the last four weeks, compared to the year before.

Redfin’s chief economist Daryl Fairweather told CNBC that rising mortgage rates are the main factor behind the shift in real estate markets. Due to the cost of mortgage payments going up, sellers are now in a hurry to find a buyer before demand weakens and they find themselves unable to sell, she said.

Another sign of the slowing market is that pending home sales fell for the sixth straight month in April, and are now at the slowest pace in almost ten years, the National Association of Realtors said last week.

This week we continue our quest to showcase some of America’s top real estate professionals. The focus today is on the Providence, Rhode Island market. We’ve also isolated yet another tool to help us compare and showcase great industry professionals. So, perhaps we’ll learn a bit more about how to discover the best of the best in this session. 

PropertySpark comes into frame as something of an attempt at differentiating agents and brokers in social media. We’re trying platforms like HomeLight, Google, Zillow, and others in order to give consumers a more complete picture, so this one should be interesting. Though cross-references just got a lot harder. Interestingly, what we found this week says a lot about best digital practices for rating industry pros. I’ll explain in the summary. 

 The Re/max Advantage Group has a website, but it’s not currently SEO friendly enough to even have a MOZ rating. Her 4.9 Google rating with 30 reviews is respectable. She’s in position #5 on RateMyAgent with perfect reviews from 46 reviewers. Gleason also took home a 2022 award. The agent/consultant is also perfect on Zillow.

According to Levi Rodgers, a highly decorated U.S. Army Special Forces veteran and the director of KW Military, honoring the fallen means pursuing a fuller life and pushing forward on behalf of those who can't anymore.

As real estate enters what one observer called a "Wile E. Coyote" moment, real estate companies’ share prices continue to struggle amid market uncertainty.

The best watering cans are not only useful, but nice to look at, too. The real challenge may be choosing just one.

Agents with luxury clients, properties, and prices contend with the highest pressures and expectations. Is it possible to beat burnout after it settles in — or, even better, before?

Recent residential sales in New York City and the region.