Nicole Friedman
Nicole Friedman
@nicolefriedman.bsky.social
U.S. housing reporter for the Wall Street Journal
Reposted by Nicole Friedman
First Street projects the hardest-hit places will have rising home-insurance costs and population declines. The counties with the biggest projected population loss over the next 30 years are Fresno County, Calif.; Ocean County, N.J.; and Monmouth County, N.J., Writes @nicolefriedman.bsky.social
February 4, 2025 at 9:58 PM
The average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage has hovered between 6% and 8% since late 2022, making it prohibitively expensive for many Americans to buy homes at current prices.
www.wsj.com/economy/hous...
U.S. Homes Sales in 2024 Fell to Lowest Level in Nearly 30 Years
Higher mortgages rates and record home prices kept sales subdued for the second straight year.
www.wsj.com
January 24, 2025 at 3:49 PM
The typical household affected by the 2023 wildfires in Maui is paying over 50% more in rent for homes with the same number or fewer bedrooms than they had before.
After the Fires, Bidding Wars and Cutthroat Demand Take Over L.A.’s Rental Market
Thousands of displaced people need somewhere to live and they are entering the contest to find housing for the months—or even years—it will take for their homes and neighborhoods to be rebuilt.
www.wsj.com
January 17, 2025 at 3:09 PM
Bowl residents don’t know if they will ever be able to build back their unique and beloved community, which they say dates to the 1950s. Residents owned their houses, but not the land beneath them, and they don’t know what the park’s ownership will decide about its future.
A Rare Middle-Class Paradise in L.A. Was Swept Away by Flames
Fire destroyed Pacific Palisades Bowl Mobile Estates, a mobile-home park that offered a middle-class beachfront life in the heart of a wealthy Los Angeles enclave.
www.wsj.com
January 10, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Soaring costs for home insurance and property taxes are rewriting the math of homeownership.

www.wsj.com/economy/hous...
Insurance and Taxes Now Cost More Than Mortgages for Many Homeowners
These ballooning expenses are rewriting the math of homeownership.
www.wsj.com
January 6, 2025 at 7:53 PM
“People are going, ‘Listen, we waited for a year and a half, we’ve got to make a move.’”
November Home Sales Post Biggest Annual Gain Since 2021
Sales of existing homes rose in November, notching the biggest year-over-year gain in more than three years.
www.wsj.com
December 19, 2024 at 3:50 PM
Early evidence suggests that commissions paid to real-estate agents are starting to decline following a landmark legal settlement, and more buyers are trying to navigate the home-buying process without an agent.
Home Buyers Enter a Strange New World
Commissions are declining after a legal settlement, but home prices are near record highs and mortgage rates are volatile.
www.wsj.com
November 28, 2024 at 4:40 PM
Even if this year’s sales of existing homes slightly exceed last year’s level, they are still on track for the worst two-year period since the mid-90s, when the country’s population was considerably smaller.
www.wsj.com
October 27, 2024 at 11:12 PM
Sales of existing homes in the U.S. are on track for the worst year since 1995—for the second year in a row.
www.wsj.com
October 23, 2024 at 3:13 PM
The National Association of Realtors appeared to hit rock bottom in October when a jury delivered a $1.8 billion verdict, finding that the industry kept home-sales fees artificially high. But the existential threat to the powerful trade group was about to get worse.
www.wsj.com/real-estate/...
Realtors Are in Crisis—and Home Buyers Could Be the Winners
A wave of lawsuits over fees paid to agents has put the giant trade association on the defense; ‘It got arrogant,’ said one real-estate executive.
www.wsj.com
February 16, 2024 at 1:37 PM
The WSJ newsroom is reeling this morning.
www.iape1096.org/iapework/202...
February 2, 2024 at 4:04 PM
Keller Williams is the third major brokerage to reach a settlement in antitrust litigation, underscoring the pressure to resolve the legal claims rather than pay for protracted and uncertain litigation.
www.wsj.com/real-estate/...
February 1, 2024 at 8:08 PM
Mortgage rates are falling. But the split between buyers who see mortgage rates as attractive enough to transact and homeowners who consider them too steep to sell is likely to keep the housing market from really taking off.
Home Buyers Are Ready to Buy. But Sellers Aren’t Selling.
Owners are feeling too fond of the low interest rates on their existing mortgages
www.wsj.com
December 18, 2023 at 2:17 AM
250 days.

Don't forget about our coworker Evan Gershkovich, who remains jailed for trying to bring you fair, truthful information. #IStandwithEvan
December 4, 2023 at 4:27 PM
My colleague Evan Gershkovich has been detained in Russia for 34 weeks. We at WSJ continue to call for his immediate release. #IStandWithEvan

www.wsj.com/news/evan-ge...
November 22, 2023 at 3:38 PM
Home sales fell in September to the lowest rate in 13 years. With mortgage rates still going up, sales are likely to keep dropping.
Home Sales Slide to Lowest Pace Since 2010 as High Rates Squeeze Market
Buyers facing limited supply pushed up September prices
www.wsj.com
October 19, 2023 at 2:57 PM