WELCOME

CoStar takes a stand

Before we dive into this week’s newsletter, we wanted to share a timely video on an industry that fuels our newsletter: home search portals. 

The competition in this space is fierce, and CoStar-owned Homes.com has made a splash—and is here to break away from the competition. In less than a year, Homes.com has claimed its space in the industry as the #2 home search portal, taking their traffic to new heights in September 2023 with 100 million unique visitors, according to Yahoo Finance. 

Success has come with a bit of criticism from the competition, Realtor.com, over the principles of Homes.com’s “Your listing, your lead” business model. If you’re a real estate professional, CoStar Group’s CEO and Founder, Andy Florance’s letter to the industry emphasizes Homes.com principles, their position toward the National Association of Realtors (NAR), and their promise to put realtors first, is a must read.

For a detailed overview, Bryon Lazine and Nicole White went over the email thoroughly in this week’s episode of The Real Word.

All the single ladies put their hands up—and their payments down.

According to a survey by the mortgage platform Maxwell, single women are confidently climbing the property ladder at the fastest rate in history, and now make up a record-high 22% of homebuyers. 

Not only are these independent buyers younger than the average home searcher—over half are under 34—they’re increasingly investment-minded. One in five single women purchasing a home this year intend to use it as a long-term rental or Airbnb property.

SHARPEN YOUR SKILLS

TRACK THE TRENDS

MARKETS

Real estate stocks’ remarkable rally

Homebuyer optimism and seller motivation aren’t the only market factors trending upwards in Q4. In November, the real estate sector of the S&P 500 jumped 12%, putting on a performance only topped by the tech sector. 

In addition to real estate stocks’ surprising late-season surge: 

• Bank of America now lists “diamond in the rough” REIT investments like American Homes 4 Rent and Prologis Inc as top investment picks. 

• Homebuilding stocks also rose 4%, notching their largest monthly gain since 2020.

This surge in stock performance suggests investors are confident the Federal Reserve is done raising interest rates—and may even consider pulling them back in the new year.

REC ROUNDUP

The Friday Five

📖 Going green. Why green is the new black—and the best color for a moody room. 

👀 Wow-worthy waterfront. See inside Bob Vila’s $52.9M pattern-happy Palm Beach home.

👀 Simply the best. The real story behind Tina Turner’s Switzerland estate.

💡ICYMI. Catch The Real Estate Report for the latest top industry stories, told simply. 

💡Disclosure damage. Glennda’s best advice for agents stuck in the middle.

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