The RE Reality Zone is a weekly 3-minute read that cuts through real estate noise and gives you the data that matters to make money - no hype, just the critical information to make good real estate investment decisions.
30-Second Summary
The RE market is fine. Buying activity is stable and normal for this time of year, as is listing activity. Inventory of houses for sale is down, but will pick up as Spring is approaching. Is definitely a Buyers market in most of US.
Interest rates are stable in the 6.0 range as well.
The RE market has essentially stabilized from the pandemic and post pandemic rate change.
Wages are increasing for people to afford current housing. I don’t mean through min wage increase, I mean through job growth by creating demand for products and services, and building more affordable housing with less regulation. “No tax on tips” put hundreds of dollars per month back in the pockets of a lot of people that will help offset their bill/housing, and declared income for mortgages!
See below for the jobs info, lot going on. Not about the “total” right now, it’s about the mix of part time or full time, and citizen or not.
We need more houses. If the illegal immigrant deportation situation changes, that may affect housing availability. No one knows by how much.
Make your purchase and sale decisions based on the fact that sales pace usually declines from here.
Precision Market Tracker (HousingAlerts)
Price/Value Appreciation ranked by county
Zillow Home Values Nov 2024 to Nov 2025
Key Stats
(from our friends at Housingwire, Jason Hartman, and others)
Unsold inventory is 8% higher than last year.
Pending contracts dipped below last year for 2nd straight week. Inventory down, new listings down, sales down. Looks bad, right? Western US (warm, dry): strong sales growth over 2025 Eastern US (buried in snow): sales below last year Looks just like the weather map Florida positive by 6%, the Southeast drag is VA, GA, NC. As the country thaws, eastern states should follow the west. 691K single family homes on market, only 8.2% above last year Prices basically flat. Median pending price $394K, +1.7% YoY. Asking price/sqft -1.6% YoY. No signal of big price movement in either direction. Sales gains in 2026 are fragile, but this dip looks like weather, not a rejection by buyers. Next few weeks will be telling.
Housing Vacancy Rate: 7.2% – increasing Q4 2025
Policy Watch
Big picture items that may affect Real Estate:
– I hope to provide you with the commonly referenced, applicable financial data to see for yourself what effect government economic policy has on jobs, incomes, debt positions, and affordability for Americans, regardless of party.
— *** The jobs report is important. Please know when the gov puts out a report like "jobs", there is a revision done a month or so later, when they crunch the actual numbers. The press rarely reports the revisions, but that is the most accurate. I advise you to put less emphasis on the initial reports and look at the later revised reports for a more accurate view. They indicate part-time, full-time, native born and foreign-born, private sector and public sector job, those are categories that matter.The annual inflation rate in the US slowed to 2.4% in January 2026, its lowest level since May, down from 2.7% in each of the previous two months and below forecasts of 2.5%. The deceleration largely reflects base effects, as higher readings from a year ago drop out of the annual calculation. Price pressures eased notably in the energy sector, with prices falling 0.1%, after a 2.3% rise in December, led by gasoline (-7.5% vs -3.4%) and fuel oil (-4.2% vs 7.4%). Prices of natural also rose at a slightly slower pace (9.8% vs 10.8%). A decline was also seen in prices for used cars and trucks (-2% vs 1.6%) while inflation slowed for food (3.1% vs 2.9%) and shelter (3% vs 3.2%). On a monthly basis, the CPI rose by 0.2%, below 0.3% in December and forecasts of 0.3%. Annual core inflation eased to 2.5%, its lowest reading since March 2021, compared with 2.6% in the prior month and in line with expectations. On a monthly basis, core CPI increased by 0.3%, slightly above 0.2% in December. source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
— The BRICS nations are going to have a hard time coming off the Dollar as the U.S. actions being taken to curb spending kick in to increase stability. They’re going to try, but the consensus is odds are low.
— Please say NO to Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) in any form (ie Fedcoin).
– Passive income from RE is a shield for most of this, whereas "flipping" and wholesaling can stop at any time.
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Mortgage Applications & Rates
Why it matters: The current market relies HEAVILY on the CHANGE in mortgage rates.
Related | Last | Previous | Unit | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
30-Year Mortgage Rate | 5.98 | 6.01 | percent | February 2026 |
MBA Mortgage Applications | 0.4 | 2.8 | percent | February 2026 |
The average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage dropped to 5.98% as of February 26th, from 6.01% in the previous week to the softest level since September 2022..…..source: Trading Economics
The volume of mortgage applications in the US rose by inched higher by 0.4%.…….source: Trading Economics
Find additional supporting data on our website
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Corey & Team
Fidelis Wealth Builders
Our obsession is Faithfully Serving You with actionable information and training to help you achieve your hopes and dreams quickly with as much risk mitigation as possible.
