Saturday, April 4, 2026

Housing Gains Could Grow Black Wealth More Than $500 Billion in a Decade

Mon, 26 April 2021  |  demographics housing 

Incremental increases in homeownership rates and home values among Black households would help shrink the current $3 trillion racial wealth gap by hundreds of billions of dollars over the next decade, according to a new Zillow analysis. Today's typical Black household has only about 23% of the wealth of a typical white household, down from 34.6% before the Great Recession. Housing factors -- including lower home values and rates of homeownership -- directly account for nearly 40%2 of that gap, with assets like investments in stocks and bonds and retirement accounts making up the rest. <... Read More

Home Listing Shortage May Be Turning Around

Fri, 23 April 2021  |  housing 

New data in Zillow's® Monthly Market Report1 suggests the inventory crunch bedeviling home searchers may be starting to turn around as record appreciation of home values makes it more enticing to sell. Meanwhile, the recovery of rents is gaining broad momentum and touching double-digit annual gains in hot markets like Phoenix and Riverside.

Although continued demand for homes pushed total for-sale inventory down 1.1% in March, the monthly decline was the smallest seen since July. That's thanks to a rush of new inventory (rising 30% from late February to late March), which sign... Read More

In-Person Banking Fading

Wed, 21 April 2021  |  banking 

FICO, a global analytics leader, today released its 2^nd annual Consumer Digital Banking study that found consumers across the U.S. and Canada have embraced digital banking and biometric identity proofing during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study found that almost half (41 percent) of North American consumers are more likely to use digital means to open a financial account than a year ago, while almost a third (32 percent) are less likely to visit a branch to open a new account.

"In an effort to help stop the spread of the virus, consumers across Read More

Luxury-Home Sales Rise 42% In First Quarter

Tue, 20 April 2021  |  housing real estate 

Sales of luxury homes in the U.S. rose 41.6% year over year in the first quarter of 2021, far outpacing sales growth in every other segment of the housing market, according to a new report from Redfin that divided all U.S. residential properties into five price tiers—luxury, expensive, mid-priced, affordable and most affordable—based on Redfin Estimates of the homes' market values. By comparison, sales of affordable homes increased 7% and sales of mid-priced homes climbed 5.9%.

Pandemic's Impact Compels Parents To Talk Money With Their Kids

Tue, 20 April 2021  |  pandemic 

A new study from T. Rowe Price provides a look at how the coronavirus pandemic has impacted families' financial well-being, compelling more parents than ever to have conversations regarding money matters with their children. Further, the study shows how the pandemic has exacerbated existing racial inequalities, including the racial retirement savings gap.

T. Rowe Price's 13th annual Parents, Kids & Money Survey, which sampled more than 2,000 parents and their 8- to 14-year-olds, reveals insights into the pandemic's impact on different families. The findings sug... Read More

Nearly Two-thirds Of U.S. Adults Interested In Crypto

Tue, 20 April 2021  |  investing payments 

A new survey by Gemini, the crypto exchange and custodian, points to a significant expansion and diversification of the nation's crypto investors. The 2021 State of US Crypto Report illustrates how attributes like gender, age, income and location are changing from the typical crypto investor. According to the report the number of cryptocurrency investors is set to double this year. In addition, older women make up the majority of the "crypto curious" — those on the brink of investing — and many of whom are nearing retirement.

The survey also revealed that the... Read More