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Demand for vacation homes has plummeted from sky-high pandemic-era demand, but what if you could have that second home anywhere, without giving up any of the amenities you’re used to?

What has been described as “the world’s most expensive, most futuristic motorhome” has hit the road. It’s priced at $2.5 million, according to YouTuber Erik Van Conover.

Van Conover, known for highlighting high-end properties, recently gave the world a tour of the motorhome in which he lived and slept trackside during this summer’s Montreal Formula 1(F1) event.

According to Van Conover, Prevost motorhomes typically belong to “A-list artists, top of the top in the music industry, F1 racers and high-level entrepreneurs” who can customize the motorhome however they see fit from the floors, the color of the leather to the entire buildout.”

This lofty motorhome features a cockpit with white leather seats, costing $20,000 a piece. Extending down from the cockpit is a retractable, 65-inch television with a built-in soundbar.

Beyond the cockpit is a lounge area with high ceilings and wide space extending two feet on each side, which Van Conover states is wider than the narrowest NYC apartment. The lounge features a convertible sofa bed, privacy glass for the windows and light bars that line the interior.

The vehicle was built not only for comfort but for efficiency and is powered by two lithium batteries that allow it to run for a week using solar energy.

Ten touchscreen Garmin tablets are spread throughout the motorhome, allowing passengers to easily control everything inside, from the lighting to the televisions. There are also charging ports for smartphones.

Other interior features include a laundry area, kitchen and dining room, two bathrooms and two bedrooms.

The motorhome seats eight and sleeps four people.

Van Conover believes that the most remarkable part of the motorhome lies in the master suite.

The master bedroom holds a king-sized bed, rare for even an NYC apartment, a retractable 50-inch television and two dual closets. The master bathroom has finishes often seen in mega-mansions, including a shower that features a built-in bench, LED light bar and hidden drain.

On the exterior of the motorhome is an outdoor kitchen, including a grill and cutting board, a 55-inch flat-screen television and an E-mirror that allows for 360-degree visibility with no blind spots on the journeys ahead.

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A 50-year high in multifamily housing starts has yielded great rewards for renters as rent growth cools and a growing share of landlords sweeten leases with discounts and other amenities. According to Zillow’s latest market report, 33.2 percent of rentals on the portal included concessions in July, a 23 percent increase from the year before.

Skyler Olsen | Photo credit: Zillow

“Builders have stepped up and built an incredible number of homes in response to soaring rents during the pandemic, and renters are now seeing the benefits,” Zillow Chief Economist Skylar Olsen said in a written statement. “Now is a great time for renters to find a deal, with more new apartments hitting the market than at any time in the past several decades.”

Nearly 60,000 multifamily rental units came online in June, with more than 882,900 units still under construction. The last time the U.S. multifamily market saw a building boom of this magnitude was in 1973, when new privately owned housing starts for buildings with five units or more reached a peak of 919,700 in July.

However, multifamily builders have been slowing their pace as quarterly vacancy rates (6.6 percent) hit the highest level since winter 2021.

Due to increased inventory, multifamily rent growth fell for the second consecutive month in July, dropping to 5.1 percent — a far cry from the double-digit rent increases seen in 2020 and 2021.

Raleigh, North Carolina (53.3 percent); Charlotte, North Carolina (53 percent); Atlanta (52.2 percent); Salt Lake City (50.9 percent); Nashville, Tennessee (50.8 percent); and Austin, Texas (50.5 percent) led the way in the share of rentals with concessions. Meanwhile, San Jose, California (-9.7 percent) had the biggest decline in rentals with concessions, signaling an increasingly competitive market.

GOBankingRates’ latest report shed some light on California’s rental market as renters grapple with an increasingly complicated answer to an age-old question: Rent or buy? The report said California’s for-sale and rental markets are some of the most expensive in the nation, with renters and homeowners facing monthly costs of living in the high four figures.

In San Jose, the median household has an annual income of $136,010. If a homeowner purchases an average-value home ($1,472,661), they can expect to pay $8,720 per month on mortgage payments, assuming they offer a 10 percent down payment and secure a conventional 30-year loan at an average rate. Meanwhile, renters are paying an average of $3,243 on rent.

When other costs of living are factored into the equation, the typical homeowner’s monthly cost of living in San Jose ($11,159) is 49.08 percent higher than the typical renter’s ($5,682), making renting the best deal.

Olsen said the trend could hold throughout the rest of 2024 as “a slowing job market and lower mortgage rates” impact the market.

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Ahead of the approaching Aug. 17 deadline for Realtors and MLSs to implement policy changes following NAR’s settlement of antitrust lawsuits, more agents are joining the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

The latest NAR-affiliated state association data shows that NAR membership has rebounded from a slowdown, with over 29,000 agents seeking membership from April to August, bringing the membership total to approximately 1.53 million, Real Estate News reported on Monday.

According to Washington Realtors CEO Nathan Gorton, recent membership growth shows that agents may be jumping back on board before the Aug. 17 deadline.

“You’ve got to be a member in good standing in order to benefit from the NAR settlement — in order to have the liability removed,” Gorton told Real Estate News. “So certainly that’s had an impact.”

NAR-affiliated association Washington Realtors, based out of Washington state, saw an increase of 5.6 percent from April to August, representing the highest percentage growth of any association in the U.S. during this time period.

Washington Realtors rebounded after enduring the biggest drop in membership by any state association last year. The association lost over 2,500 agents, an 11 percent decline in Realtor membership. That loss can be attributed to Redfin’s split from NAR last October, Gorton said.

Gorton suggested that Washington agents may be more prepared for the upcoming deadline compared to agents in other states as buyer agent agreements are already required by Washington state law. Washington Realtors has begun educating consumers on the upcoming changes in the industry with a web and television campaign.

As Inman reported in February, “NAR membership was 2.1 percent lower in January than a year earlier, dropping to 1,515,837. That’s down 5.3 percent from October 2022, when NAR hit a membership peak of 1.6 million, and it’s the lowest level since May 2021. NAR reported a net loss in members last year for the first time since 2012.”

In February, NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun predicted further membership declines “given the reduction in business opportunities over the past two years” and “the lag effects of past housing cycles.”

In April, NAR scrubbed its website of decades of month-over-month membership data. NAR did respond to questions on why the data was removed from the public eye, but spokesperson Mantill Williams said at the time, “Any suggestion that our members will not have visibility into membership data is inaccurate.”

However, as recently as May, NAR Treasurer Greg Hrabcak asserted that membership was “tracking favorably to plan and is increasing each month.” NAR did not respond to a request from Inman for membership data to support this assertion.

Inman reached out to NAR for comment, and spokesperson Mantill Williams said NAR had “nothing further to add to the story.”

Since the real estate market initially slowed in 2022, there has been speculation about whether decreasing market share, accusations of sexual harassment against the trade group, and challenges such as commission-related lawsuits and NAR’s subsequent settlement have had a significant impact on agent membership growth.

In 2023, there was an increase in NAR membership, though sales volume declined.

In August 2023, sexual harassment accusations arose against NAR’s former president Kenny Parcell, and the organization reported membership losses in the months that followed. Membership declined by 62,000 from October 2023 to January 2024, though the organization still claimed over 1.5 million members.

NAR faced additional losses in February, losing 19,000 members, bringing membership lower than 1.5 million for the first time in three years.

On March 15, NAR reached a settlement agreement in the antitrust lawsuits related to its practices.

Membership numbers for the organization have remained resilient for the most part, despite changes in the market and industry practices.

“Our membership numbers — as in all previous years — will be competitive, with new members trying out their entrepreneurial skills while less productive members drop out,” NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said in an email to Real Estate News. “We will await the net impact. So far, membership is holding high with only a 2 percent decline from a year ago despite the low home sales over the past two years.”

This story has been updated with additional context from previous Inman reporting.

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Millennials face a more difficult homebuying landscape than baby boomers did in the 1980s. 

That’s according to a new report from The Wall Street Journal that found a combination of low supply, high demand and high home prices has created headwinds that are stronger than those faced by baby boomers during the time that they were first navigating the housing market.

The result is that fewer young millennials own homes today than baby boomers did at the same age. The income required to qualify for a mortgage is higher than ever. The age of first-time and repeat buyers is going up, and agents are selling fewer homes.

Just 12 percent of consumers believe it’s a good time to buy a house, according to a long-running survey by the University of Michigan that tracks consumer sentiment. That’s even lower than in September 1985, when 15 percent of consumers thought it was a good time to buy.

The income required to afford the typical single-family home with a 20 percent down payment has more than doubled since January 2021, rising by 125 percent to $110,544 in June.

The median single-family home rose to $432,700 in June. Typical monthly payments now take up 26.8 percent of families’ incomes.

Interest rates were far higher in the 1980s, but buyers were more likely to take advantage of ways to avoid paying them, the WSJ noted. Boomer buyers more readily obtained adjustable-rate mortgages or assumable mortgages than buyers today, the report said.

Meanwhile, the typical first-time homebuyer is now six years older than in 1984, when they were 29 years old, the WSJ reported, citing data from NAR.

Nearly 60 percent of baby boomers owned a home by age 33, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Among millennials, it’s about 40 percent. (The overall homeownership rate is slightly higher today than it was at the time.)

The high prices are in large part due to a lack of available housing supply, as restrictive zoning policies and homeowner pushback to reforms that would make it easier to add more housing have made it difficult for the private sector to meet growing demand.

Existing home sales are selling at an annual rate of 3.89 million. That would be down slightly from 4.09 million in 2023.

According to recent comments from NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun, however, better days may be on the horizon for frustrated young buyers. 

“Homes are sitting on the market a bit longer, and sellers are receiving fewer offers,” Yun said last month. “More buyers are insisting on home inspections and appraisals, and inventory is definitively rising on a national basis.”

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Miami-based investment firm CGI Merchant Group has lost another hotel property to foreclosure, The Real Deal reported on Friday.

The Gabriel Miami Downtown hotel was sold in a UCC (Uniform Commercial Code) auction to an affiliate of Madison Realty Capital, marking the second property in about a week that the firm had let go of as a result of debt.

CGI Merchant has faced foreclosure filings by lenders on three of its biggest hotels this year as the company has had to grapple with high interest rates and surging insurance premiums in the state of Florida. Even with two losses within the span of one week, CGI says it will keep fighting for the properties.

“Over the past few weeks, our team worked diligently to provide Madison a capital path to prevent Monday’s auction from taking place,” a spokesperson from CGI Merchant told Inman in an email. “Unfortunately, against our expectation, Madison decided not to grant us an extension on the auction and instead chose to proceed with the process. However, we are still in close communication with Madison, and they remain engaged with us to work out a solution.

“Our sole objective is to reach an amicable financial settlement that will allow CGI to repurchase the outstanding loan balance and regain the title,” CGI continued. “We are working closely with a key capital partner and have solidified a capital solution that will aid with the financing of the Gabriel Downtown Miami.”

Now the Madison Realty Capital affiliate has possession of the 129-room Gabriel Miami Downtown, which is located at the luxury Marquis condo tower at 1100 Biscayne Boulevard. The 67-story tower also houses 292 condos.

Madison Realty did not respond to Inman’s request for comment by press time.

According to records, Madison refinanced an existing $60 million loan that CGI had on the Gabriel Miami Downtown in 2021, bumping the loan amount up to $60.4 million.

CGI had reportedly been at work to recapitalize the loan, according to TRD’s sources, and were in talks with potential debt partners as of May. The auction had initially been scheduled by Madison for that month, but then extended the auction date multiple times, a common practice when lenders and borrowers are in talks to find an alternative solution to foreclosure auction.

CGI originally bought the hotel and its common areas in 2013 for $19.5 million, according to records.

The hotel was then branded as Casa Moderna. CGI ultimately switched it to the Spanish brand ME by Meliá, and eventually, the Gabriel.

The firm took out a $24.5 million loan on the hotel in 2014 and upped the loan amount several times over the next few years, according to records. During that time, the debt was also reassigned to different lenders multiple times.

The other hotel property that CGI most recently lost to foreclosure is the Waldorf Astoria in Washington, D.C., which was previously the Trump International Hotel. Last year, CGI allegedly defaulted on a $285 million loan on the hotel after purchasing the leasehold interest on the property in 2022 for $375 million from the Trump family firm. The lender, BDT & MSD Partners, took over the property during a foreclosure auction on Aug. 5.

The investment firm is also currently under threat of foreclosure on its Gabriel South Beach hotel located on Ocean Drive in Miami. The foreclosure is in connection with a $71.1 million loan on the hotel property from Deutsche Bank. That auction date is currently scheduled for Sept. 12, but like the other foreclosure auctions CGI has been involved in thus far, the date has been postponed multiple times, suggesting that the borrower and lender are attempting to negotiate an alternative solution.

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It’s hard to get a large group of real estate agents to agree on anything — but about this topic, they tell a pretty consistent story.

Prior to the NAR settlement, the practice of agents “steering” buyers away from listings that offered a low buyer commission was always rare. Many agents go so far as to say that regardless of the ethics involved, it wouldn’t have even been worth an agent’s time.

But with new NAR settlement rules set to go into effect later this week in MLSs across the U.S., an industry consensus has emerged that so-called “steering” is primed to become much more prevalent — even as it’s guided more by buyers than by agents.

• Fewer than 13 percent of agents who responded in late July to the Inman Intel Index said that the MLS disclosure of a listing’s buyer-side compensation offer has “occasionally influenced” their advice to clients.
• Of that relatively small group, more than half said they simply passed the commission information on to their buyer clients and let them make a decision.
• Only 5 percent of all agents said they had ever engaged in an activity that resembled covert “steering” — such as acting off the MLS info to not share a listing with a client, or to discourage them from offering on a home.

In its monthly survey of 611 real estate professionals, Intel set out to investigate the true prevalence of steering, how steering has actually influenced agent relationships with clients, and how agents and brokers say the practice is likely to play out going forward under the new NAR settlement rules.

Read the analysis below for the full range of findings.

What ‘steering’ actually looks like

By Saturday, MLSs across the country will no longer include a compensation field on listings, removing the go-to place where buyer’s agents used to be able to confirm their commission.

To understand what this change might mean for agents, Intel first sought to learn what agents say they gained from the field.

When working with buyers over the course of your real estate career, have you regularly checked the MLS to confirm a listing’s buyer-side compensation?

• 61 percent — Yes, but it has never influenced how I advise my clients
• 23 percent — No, I have felt there is no need to check
• 13 percent — Yes, and it has occasionally influenced how I advise my clients
• 3 percent — No, I have felt that it would be wrong to check

We see that a large majority of agents — nearly 3 in 4 — say they would regularly check the compensation field in the MLS. At the same time, very few — only 1 in 20 — said they used this info to steer clients without their knowledge.

So what value did agents gain by having an MLS compensation field?

Agents gave a long list of answers, often selecting multiple options. Here were some of the top-selected choices among all agents.

• 39 percent of agent respondents told Intel that having a compensation field on the MLS reduced the need to reach out to listing agents for the same info.
• 21 percent of agents said it helped them understand how different brokerages approach commissions.
• 20 percent of agents said the compensation field better helped them track changes in the market over time.
• 19 percent of agents said that it helped them better understand their business’s near-term revenue outlook.

Among agents who said they do not routinely check the MLS for a listing’s commission info, here were some of the top reasons why.

• 13 percent of all agents said they did not check because knowing the buyer-side commission “doesn’t help me serve my client.”
• 7 percent of all agents said it doesn’t matter to them whether the buyer-side commission is 2 percent, 3 percent or something else altogether.
• 5 percent of agents said that the amount that the seller covers is so standard in their market that they didn’t feel the need to check.

Interestingly, among the small group of agents who said that they didn’t check the MLS compensation field for purely ethical reasons, almost all believe that the NAR settlement will make steering more prevalent in the future, not less.

One agent, replying anonymously to the survey, described the new conditions as “horrible for buyers” and the agents working with them.

“Much more steering will happen, at the direction of the buyer of course,” the agent wrote. “I actually have not heard of any steering in the past due to amount of commission being offered — ever. Now, with the buyer directing to do so, it will happen every day.”

To illustrate why that might be, Intel asked agents and brokers how they plan to confirm this information in the new environment.

A framework for the future

So after Saturday’s change goes into effect, what will steering actually look like?

In the immediate term, buyer agency agreements appear to be the new standard. And if a seller declines to cover the buyer-side fee, it’s the buyer — not their agent — who will feel the impact.

But this still leaves some questions unanswered. Without an MLS compensation field, how will agents confirm what the seller is willing to cover, if anything?

Brokers have largely settled on one of two main paths in their brokerage policy or guidelines:

• 43 percent of brokerage leaders surveyed in late July by Intel said their buyer’s agents will be encouraged to reach out to the listing agent before their client offers on a home.
• Meanwhile, 24 percent of brokerage leaders have recommended a less direct route: submitting an offer that stipulates the seller will cover the full commission, then learning the seller’s position as part of normal negotiations.

It should be noted that as of late July, just weeks before the change was set to go into effect, nearly 1 in 5 brokerage leaders told Intel they were still waiting on more information before establishing a policy or guidelines on how buyer’s agents should confirm the seller’s commission concession.

One potential solution that has been discussed by some MLSs has been to include a “seller-concession field” where the seller could telegraph their openness to covering all or part of the commission.

But most real estate agents Intel surveyed aren’t yet counting on this being a viable option — at least so far.

After the buyer-side commission is no longer included in a compensation field on MLS listings, how do you plan to confirm this information for future listings?

• 60 percent — I plan to reach out to the listing agent to confirm the buyer-side commission before my client offers on a home, when possible
• 24 percent — I plan to encourage my clients to submit an offer that requires the seller to cover my full buyer-side commission, then learn the seller’s position as part of normal negotiations
• 4 percent — I do not plan to contact the agent for this information, but I will review the MLS listing for other indications of willingness to cover the buyer-side commission, potentially in a seller-concession field
• 1 percent — I do not plan to reach out to the listing agent or encourage my buyer clients to ask the seller to cover the buyer-side commission
• 10 percent — Other

It’s clear that under the new rules, most buyer’s agents will feel the need to confirm the portion of their commission the seller is willing to cover — even if they didn’t feel the need to look it up before, when it was available on the MLS.

And according to the July survey, agents expect this to largely play out off the MLS — not through a seller-concession field or other workaround.

Methodology notes: This month’s Inman Intel Index survey was conducted July 22-Aug. 5, 2024, and received 611 responses. The entire Inman reader community was invited to participate, and a rotating, randomized selection of community members was prompted to participate by email. Users responded to a series of questions related to their self-identified corner of the real estate industry — including real estate agents, brokerage leaders, lenders and proptech entrepreneurs. Results reflect the opinions of the engaged Inman community, which may not always match those of the broader real estate industry. This survey is conducted monthly.

Email Daniel Houston