When a home is listed on the MLS, that property information is immediately available to virtually every real estate agent in the market who is an MLS member, and by extension, to every serious buyer working with an agent who has access to the MLS. By extension, literally all online real estate portals buyers and sellers have come to enjoy pulling their data from it.
Lowe's guided to total sales of $92 billion to $94 billion and adjusted EPS of $12.25 to $12.75. The midpoint of that EPS range is essentially flat with FY25's $12.28, which likely explains the muted market reaction. Moreover, housing starts declined 5.8% year over year through December 2025, giving CEO Marvin Ellison's cautious tone real macro grounding.
Is it time to think about rent-to-own homes? After all, 2026 is shaping up to be a chaotic year, with an uncertain economy, political pandemonium roiling every market, and a falling dollar. And in real estate, everyone seems to be hurting. For the first time in over a decade, it's seemingly a buyer's market, with housing stock finally exceeding those looking to make a purchase.
Home values in two Central New York counties grew at some of the fastest rates in the nation in December, according to data from Zillow. Home values in Oneida County increased more than 7.1% in December, when compared with a year earlier. That ranked No. 8 nationwide among the country's 500 most populous counties. In Onondaga County, home values rose over 5.5%, ranking the county 20th in the U.S. for home value growth.
During the pandemic housing boom, we saw red-hot housing demand quickly absorb much of the available slack in the housing market. Back in 2021, active housing inventory for sale, unsold completed new builds, and available lot supply all plunged to historic lows. But ever since the pandemic housing boom fizzled out in mid-2022, housing slack has been building back up in the housing market-especially in certain pockets of the Sun Belt.
I've been searching for a rental apartment for the first time in years, and one thing was immediately clear: the market has changed dramatically. The prices are much higher, options for long-term rentals are very limited, and scams are everywhere. At The Local Italy we've heard from many people who've been stung or had a near miss with scammers preying on people making an international move. We've reported how rental scams have increased in recent years.
Zillow economists use an economic model they call the Zillow Market Heat Index to gauge the competitiveness of housing markets across the country. This model looks at key indicators-including home price changes, inventory levels, and days on market-to generate a score showing whether a market favors sellers or buyers. Higher scores point to hotter, seller-friendly metro housing markets. Lower scores signal cooler markets where buyers hold more negotiating power.
He ordered Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to use their balance sheets to buy $200 billion worth of mortgage bonds, aimed at putting downward pressure on mortgage rates that could entice new homebuyers. That news rippled through bond markets last week and lowered rates. Trump also said that credit card rates should be capped at 10% for one year, beginning next week - though it's unclear whether banks would honor that demand without legislation or regulations that force them to.
Trump is trying to reverse his sagging approval ratings by brute force, leaning on populist instincts to deliver visible cost relief before November. The result: institutional stability and capitalist norms - like so much else in the Trump era - are increasingly subordinate to raw presidential power. Zoom in: Trump has denied knowledge of the Justice Department's criminal inquiry into Fed chair Jerome Powell, which is nominally focused on cost overruns from the central bank's renovation of its D.C. headquarters.
Sectors that showed notable job gains in December include food services and drinking places (+27,000 jobs), health care (+34,000 jobs) and social assistance (+17,000 jobs). On the other end of the spectrum, the retail trade sector lost 25,000 jobs in December. Residential building construction lost 4,200 jobs in December, although employment for residential specialty trade contractors rose by 1,100 jobs. The real estate sector also posted a small increase, adding 2,300 jobs in December.
That period sparked a rush of sales that essentially cleared out the inventory, and honestly, it has never really slowed down since then. Even in today's market, we're still dealing with extremely low inventory and multiple-bid situations on a regular basis. There just aren't enough homes to meet demand, and that pressure continues to push prices higher. It's an incredible time to be a seller.
As the country reemerged from the coronavirus pandemic lockdown in 2021- when the COVID vaccine finally arrived, TikTok reached 1 billion downloads and Adele finally released new music - the housing market also saw its own interesting development. That year, banks offered some of the lowest interest rates seen in over a decade for a type of housing loan known as an adjustable-rate mortgage.
Aside from the ongoing geopolitical turmoil we've seen, as well as concerns around inflation driven by quickly-changing tariff and trade policies, the direction of monetary policy coming out of the Federal Reserve could be the hot topic many will be watching very closely. Given president Trump's views on interest rates (namely, that they're way too high right now), a pressure campaign is still being waged on the Fed to drop rates, and do so quickly.
In a housing market defined by high mortgage rates and tight inventory, the very top of the market is still moving-sometimes at jaw-dropping prices. In Cleveland, OH, recent sales show just how much buyers are willing to pay for location, scale and exclusivity. Below are the most expensive home sales in Cleveland, OH, highlighting properties that commanded the highest prices:
