Market briefs, when the data moves
A short email covering what actually changed in the housing markets you follow — home values, rents, inventory conditions, and mortgage rates — with a plain read on what it means for a buyer or a seller. It is free, there is no account, and we ask for an email address and nothing else. Briefs go out monthly, timed to the Zillow data release, plus a note whenever mortgage rates move enough to change what you can afford.
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What's in a brief
Five things, every time. Each one is a figure we hold and publish on the site, so you can always click through and check the working.
Home values and rents
The Zillow Home Value Index and Observed Rent Index for each market you follow, with the month-over-month and year-over-year move. These are the two series that still refresh monthly, so they lead every brief.
The price-to-rent read
Values divided by rents for your markets, and what that ratio implies about whether buying or renting is currently the cheaper path over a typical holding period.
Transaction conditions
Days on market, months of supply, sale-to-list ratio, and the share of listings with a price cut — plus the buyer's-or-seller's verdict those produce. These come from Redfin's final published period, May 2026, and are labelled as historical.
Mortgage rates
The Freddie Mac 30-year and 15-year survey averages, and what a move since the last brief does to the monthly payment on a typical loan in your market. This is usually the number that changes your budget most.
What changed since last time
A short written read on what actually moved and what it means for your side of the trade — not a data dump. If nothing meaningful moved in your markets, the brief says so rather than manufacturing a story.
Why monthly, and not weekly
Because that is how often the data changes. Zillow publishes its home value and rent indices monthly. Census demographics update once a year. Redfin’s transaction tracker stopped publishing altogether in June 2026, so those figures no longer move at all. The only series that updates faster is the Freddie Mac mortgage rate, which is weekly — and that gets its own short note when it moves enough to matter, rather than a standing weekly email that mostly says “nothing happened”.
| Trigger | Frequency |
|---|---|
| Zillow monthly release — values and rents for your markets | Monthly |
| A material move in the 30-year fixed mortgage rate | As it happens, rarely more than once a month |
| Welcome email confirming what you signed up for | Once, on signup |
Following a specific market
Signing up here gets you the national brief. To follow a particular city or ZIP code, subscribe from that market’s own page — the signup form there attaches the location to your subscription, so the brief you receive is about the market you actually care about. Subscribe from as many market pages as you like with the same address; they stack.
Questions
How often will you email me?
Monthly, timed to the Zillow release, because that is when the underlying values and rents actually change. We also send a short note when the 30-year mortgage rate moves enough to change affordability materially. We do not email weekly, because on a monthly dataset a weekly email would be padding.
How do I follow a specific city?
Subscribe from the market page for that city or ZIP rather than from this page. The signup form on a market page attaches that location to your subscription, so your brief covers it. Subscribing from this page gets you the national brief; you can add markets by subscribing again from each one.
What does it cost, and do I need an account?
Nothing, and no. There is no account, no paywall, and no login anywhere on this site. We ask for an email address and nothing else — no name, no phone number, no address.
Will you sell or share my email address?
No. Your email is used to send the briefs you asked for and nothing else. Every message carries a one-click unsubscribe, and you can ask us to delete your address entirely at any time. Details are in the privacy policy.
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Stay ahead of the market
Weekly updates on prices, inventory, and trends. Free forever.