Existing-home sales drop to six-month low

🌅 Welcome to Friday Jr. Today, we look at home sales dip, vacant spaces eyed for housing, Zillow updates listing rules, and top Texas cities to live.

Today's newsletter is 654 words — a 2.5-minute read.

1. Existing-home sales drop to six-month low

According to Redfin’s latest market update, sales of existing homes fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.2 million in April — the lowest level since October 2024. This is down 0.2% from March and 1.1% from a year ago.

Pending sales fell 3.5% from the previous month on a seasonally adjusted basis — the steepest monthly decline since August 2023. Year over year, pending sales dropped 2.7%.

The median home sale price rose 1.4% year-over-year to $438,466 in April, marking the slowest price growth in nearly two years. Meanwhile, monthly housing payments hit a record high last month.

Sales of existing homes, seasonally adjusted annual rate

2. Texas bill supports adaptive reuse in commercial areas

The Texas House gave preliminary approval to Senate Bill 840, which aims to allow apartments and mixed-use developments to be built in certain cities along retail and commercial corridors and in places that now only allow office buildings.

House members approved the bill, which has already cleared the Senate, by a 108-23 vote. The bill must come back for a final House vote.

The bill would only apply to Texas’ largest cities. It’s limited to cities that have a population greater than 150,000 people that sit in a county with at least 300,000 residents.

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3. Catch up quick

✝️ Chicago suburb plans to seize Pope Leo’s childhood home. (BusinessStandard)

💸 Renting is becoming a better deal. (BusinessInsider)

💰 Oscar-winning actress Emma Stone's $26M Texas home is now for sale. (Realtor.com)

🏗️ $104 million housing development planned for McKinney. (LocalProfile)

⚖️ Investor lawsuit seeks to pause Rocket-Redfin merger. (NMP)

🏠 Nearly 30% of home shoppers say a recession would make them more likely to buy. (NowBAM)

🍩 Fun read: Three of the top 50 donut shops in the U.S. are in Texas. (Yelp)

4. Report: Best places to live in Texas

U.S. News & World Report has unveiled its 2025–2026 ranking of the best places to live in the U.S., evaluating major cities based on factors such as value, desirability, job market, and quality of life.

This year’s top 10 included three Texas cities, thanks to strong value and desirability scores: Pearland at No. 3, with League City and Leander ranking No. 6 and No. 8, respectively.

Other Texas areas that made it into the top 50 include:

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5. Zillow provides clarity on private listings rule

Starting May 28, Zillow will begin a phased rollout of its new Listing Access Standards, which require all publicly marketed listings to be entered into the MLS within one business day to remain visible on Zillow and Trulia.

Listings marketed through social media, broker websites, or yard signs that do not meet the requirements will be flagged. Starting June 30, repeated violations (three or more) will result in the listing being blocked for the duration of the listing agreement.

The policy applies exclusively to for-sale listings, regardless of local MLS rules, and excludes FSBOs, rentals, and homebuilder inventory. Office exclusives and limited sneak peeks are permitted under strict guidelines, with office exclusives allowed only if the homeowner signs a seller disclosure form.

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