The brokerage’s new “communities” will provide its agents with specialized training, technology, coaching and referral opportunities. 

Sellers using Zillow may request and view an offer directly from Opendoor and compare it to an open-market sale with a real estate agent. 

The national rental vacancy rate dropped to 5.6% in the second quarter of the year while the homeowner vacancy rate remained at 0.8%.

Home prices were up 10.9% in Boston on a year-over-year basis, compared to 18.3% nationwide, CoreLogic reported, citing its Home Price Index. 

“Contract signings to buy a home will keep tumbling down as long as mortgage rates keep climbing, as has happened this year to date.” — National Association of Realtors chief economist Lawrence Yun  

At the same time, the inventory of new homes for sale rose 10.7%, the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development reported.

The pace of new multifamily construction, however, jumped, according to the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.  

At the same time, the median existing-home price rose 13.4% year over year to $416,000. 

Nationwide, sales hit their highest level of the year, rising 4.7% from June but falling 17.6% on a year-over-year basis, RE/MAX said. 

July saw the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index post its second-largest monthly drop ever, as worries about housing affordability dampened builder sentiment.