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Down payments reached historic highs in 2024, with buyers paying an average of 14.4% ($29,900) of purchase price, up from 14.2% ($27,200) in 2023. The Q4 2024 typical down payment was $30,250, approximately $3,000 higher than the previous year and 3.4 percentage points above pre-pandemic levels.

The increase is attributed to pandemic-era savings and near-record high existing home equity. Housing activity grew 7.4% in the $750,000-plus price range while declining 9.3% in lower-priced segments. The 30th percentile down payment, representing modest payments, was $8,200 in Q4 2024, up 6.5% year-over-year but below the pandemic peak of $10,300 in Q2 2022.

News Corp (NWS) announced that Chief Technology Officer David Kline will resign from his position, effective June 30, 2025, to pursue an opportunity outside the organization. During his five-year tenure since January 2020, Kline played a important role in advancing the company's technology operations across enterprise systems, product offerings, and solution delivery.

Under Kline's leadership, News Corp's global technology organization successfully navigated pandemic challenges and the emergence of Generative AI, while developing strategic partnerships with technology platforms and implementing operational efficiencies. CEO Robert Thomson praised Kline's contributions, highlighting his positive influence and the strong tech team he assembled during his tenure.

Realtor.com's February rent report reveals that despite declining rents in top 50 metros, lower multifamily permitting activity could lead to future rent increases. Only 294,000 multifamily units were permitted in 2024, down from 318,000 during the pandemic peak in 2020.

Nine metros, including New York, Kansas City, and Detroit, showed lower multifamily permitting and rising rents. Conversely, cities like Birmingham, Cincinnati, and Cleveland saw increased permitting and declining rents. In federal employment hotspots, rent trends vary, with Washington D.C. up 3.3% year-over-year, while San Diego experienced a 6% decline.

The report highlights that larger rental units maintain strong demand, with 2-bedroom units showing 18.3% growth over five years, compared to 14.3% for 1-bedroom and 9.7% for studio units. Currently, all unit types show slight year-over-year declines around -0.7% to -0.8% as of February 2025.

Realtor.com has identified April 13-19, 2025, as the optimal time to sell homes, according to their Best Time to Sell report. Sellers listing during this period could potentially earn $4,800 more than the average week and $27,000 more than early-year listings, while selling nine days faster with 13.2% less competition.

The report highlights several favorable conditions during this week, including:

• 1.1% higher median listing prices than yearly average
• 17.7% more views per listing than typical weeks
• Faster selling pace due to above-average demand

Looking ahead to 2025, the housing market outlook shows promising signs with expected improvements in affordability. Mortgage rates are projected to decrease to the mid-to-low 6% range by year-end, though market uncertainty remains due to inflation concerns and potential policy changes affecting homebuilding costs and housing affordability.

Realtor.com reports that the U.S. faces a critical housing shortage of 3.8 million homes, marking the third-largest annual gap since 2012. Despite reaching a two-decade high of 1.6 million home completions in 2024, closing this gap would take an estimated 7.5 years nationwide.

Regional disparities are significant: the South could catch up in 3 years, the West in 6.5 years, the Midwest in 41 years, while the Northeast shows no progress. The shortage has led to approximately 1.63 million 'pent-up' households, primarily affecting Millennials and Gen Zers who opt to live with family or roommates.

In response, Realtor.com launched the 'Let America Build' campaign to advocate for policy changes addressing supply constraints. While 2024 saw new construction outpace household formations for the first time since 2016, with 1.36 million homes started, multi-family housing starts fell to their lowest level since 2017.

Realtor.com's February Hottest Markets Report reveals that homes in the most in-demand markets spend significantly less time listed compared to the national average. Properties in hot markets remained active for 33-51 days versus the national average of 66 days, attracting 2.0-4.2 times more viewers than typical U.S. homes.

The Northeast and Midwest markets have dominated the top 20 hottest markets for 17 consecutive months, characterized by higher demand and consistently lower inventory. Meanwhile, the West and South experienced substantial annual inventory increases of 37.4% and 29.9% respectively.

Despite persistent demand in hot markets, annual price growth softened to 0.9% in February, marking the lowest hot market price growth in the data's history. The largest 40 U.S. markets have cooled by an average of 10 spots compared to last year, though still attracting 14.8% more views per listing than the national average.

Realtor.com's February Housing Report reveals significant shifts in the housing market. The share of homes with price reductions increased to 16.8% from 14.6% last February, while newly listed homes rose 4.2% year-over-year, marking the highest February activity since 2021.

The median home listing price decreased to $412,000, influenced by more smaller homes entering the market. Properties spent an average of 66 days on the market, marking the 11th consecutive month of extended selling times compared to the previous year, though still moving faster than pre-pandemic levels.

Despite recent federal workforce uncertainties, markets with high government employment concentrations haven't shown notable trends in inventory growth, time on market, or price softening. In the Washington, D.C. area, price reductions increased by 2.3 percentage points year-over-year, ranking 23rd among metros for largest increases in price reductions.

Realtor.com® is taking a bold step to address America's housing crisis at SXSW 2025 through three comprehensive panel discussions. The event highlights the critical shortage of approximately 4 million homes in the U.S., which has led to intense buyer competition and elevated costs.

The panels will be held across two locations in Austin, Texas: Realtor.com® Headquarters on March 8 and Thompson Hotel on March 10. Key sessions include 'Future-Proof Housing for the Next Generation,' 'What Texas Can Teach Us About Solving America's Housing Crisis,' and 'Unlocking Supply: Addressing the Missing ~4 Million Homes in America.'

The event features prominent speakers including Austin Mayor Kirk Watson, industry leaders, and experts from Realtor.com®, ICON, Landsea Homes, National Zoning Atlas, and The Urban Institute. The sessions will explore solutions to the inventory crunch and its impact on housing's future.

News Corp (NWS) has announced that its Chief Executive Robert Thomson will be participating in the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference on March 3, 2025. The session is scheduled to begin at 6:20 PM EST (3:20 PM PST).

Investors and interested parties can access the live webcast through the News Corp investor relations website at investors.newscorp.com/calendar-events. A replay of the webcast will be made available at the same location following the conference for those unable to attend the live session.