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The State Capitals Ranked as the Best Places To Live

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Latest Rates

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Loan Type

Current Rate

Day Change

1 Week

1 Month

1 Year

52-Week Range

30 Yr. Fixed

6.04%

-0.06%

-0.11%

-0.03%

-1.00%

6.01% - 7.08%

15 Yr. Fixed

5.61%

-0.08%

-0.11%

+0.02%

-0.87%

5.55% - 6.48%

30 Yr. FHA

5.62%

-0.05%

-0.13%

-0.13%

-0.83%

5.62% - 6.53%

30 Yr. Jumbo

6.27%

-0.02%

-0.06%

-0.08%

-1.12%

6.10% - 7.39%

7/6 SOFR ARM

5.37%

-0.11%

-0.19%

-0.31%

-1.58%

5.37% - 7.12%

30 Yr. VA

5.64%

-0.05%

-0.13%

-0.13%

-0.83%

5.64% - 6.54%

Real Estate Trends

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The State Capitals Ranked as the Best Places To Live Link

  • Austin, TX, takes the top spot because it balances high housing costs with strong local earning power and top-tier public schools.

  • Raleigh, NC, and Atlanta follow in the rankings due to high median household incomes and robust job markets driven by major corporate headquarters.

  • The rankings evaluated 50 capitals based on 48 metrics, including affordability, economic stability, and quality of life, with Bismarck, ND, notably ranking as the most affordable.

Distressed Office Investment Volume at 10-Year High Link

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  • Investors spent over $4.3 billion on distressed office buildings in 2025, which is the highest amount seen in the last decade.

  • Private buyers were the most active players, making up more than half of these purchases as they looked for discounted properties to fix up or convert.

  • A total of 168 properties traded hands last year, with a significant chunk of that money flowing into the New York City metro area.

I post the most popular insights from the day on Reddit. Follow along → Reddit

Single-Family Rentals Surge as BTR Drives Sector Recovery Link

  • The single-family rental market grew to 14.6 million households in 2025, marking a 1.7% increase and a seven-year high for the industry.

  • Most of this growth is coming from build-to-rent projects, with attached rental homes making up 91% of the sector's total expansion last year.

  • Families are turning to these rentals because of high home prices and a desire for newer, amenity-rich communities that traditional landlords don't always provide.

Where Manhattan’s Second-Home Buyers Are Heading Now Link

  • New Yorkers are heading to Litchfield County, CT, because it offers a quieter, less commercial atmosphere compared to the crowded and expensive Hamptons.

  • The area is much more affordable, with a median listing price of $650,000 and lower property taxes than nearby New York towns.

  • Buyers are drawn to the open space, historic architecture, and freshwater beaches, all within a two-hour commute of the city.

AI & Real Estate - Today’s Trends

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Tool of the day: ZipSmart

ZipSmart is an AI-powered real estate tool utilizing Mapbox and OpenStreetMap for enhanced, filterable mapping. It provides market forecasts, categorizes markets, offers buy/sell signals based on location and conditions, and allows customizable search parameters for informed decisions.

7 AI Tools That Help Agents Do in Hours What Used to Take Days link 

By consolidating fragmented tasks like video editing, listing descriptions, and lead nurturing into automated workflows, these tools are effectively lowering the barrier to entry for high-volume production in the U.S. residential market.

Redfin Extends its AI-Powered Home Search Experience link 

This integration transforms the U.S. home-buying journey into a conversational experience, allowing users to find properties based on hyper-specific lifestyle queries rather than just rigid filters.

Cadastral Raises $9.5 Million to Build the AI Platform for Commercial Real Estate link 

This capital infusion signals a growing investor appetite for AI that can solve the "messy data" problem in U.S. commercial real estate, specifically by automating complex underwriting and site selection processes.

Proptech Startups That Just Got Funded

Pro Member Only Content Below

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The Housing Markets Seeing the Sharpest Home Price Declines 

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Institutional Interest Spikes for This Asset Class

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Investors See This Asset Class As The Next Big Bet 

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U.S. Cap Rate Trends

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Two Decades of Zillow Data Show How the U.S. Housing Market Has Changed Since 2006

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Proptech Startups That Just Got Funded

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Off Topic

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Mapped: Global Inflation Forecasts by Country in 2026

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Unreal Real Estate

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They had me at the staircase!

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