This week, Regan Hutsell was crowned the 99th Miss America. Along with receiving the iconic and prestigious title and crown, she’ll also be receiving the keys to a luxury high rise apartment in New York City.
Eric Mastrota is a Contributing Editor at The National Digest based in New York. A graduate of SUNY New Paltz, he reports on world news, culture, and lifestyle. You can reach him at eric.mastrota@thenationaldigest.com.
According to a new index from the National Association of Realtors, a multitude of markets throughout the US are showing an increased demand for commercial real estate throughout the country.
South Carolina, in particular, ranked the highest among all US states in future potential demand for commercial real estate. The National Association of Realtors works to provide a clear vision for investors throughout America when it comes to pursuing their next big venture. The data they report utilizes figures from local economies and past patterns to predict future demand.
This specific index looks at over 300 metropolitan markets, analyzing office, industrial, retail, and multifamily sectors while measuring the economic conditions within each region, CNBC reports.
Government data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Census Bureau for population and movement also helped inform the rankings. The office sector looked at growth in professional and business services employment. For industrial they looked at manufacturing, transportation, and warehousing employment growth.
The NAR also measures growth in retail trade along with leisure and hospitality employment. In the multifamily sector, they incorporated population growth and net migration domestically and internationally.
“It doesn’t say, ‘OK, go there and just buy property,’ but it says … where the data shows that the momentum is building, the demand is building,” Nadia Evangelou, principal economist and director of real estate research at NAR, said.
The association also compared those selected markets to 2022, which is considered the peak of the pandemic migration boom. According to the index, out of all the markets analyzed, Raleigh, North Carolina is the only major one that is stronger today than it was in 2022.
Austin, Texas, Miami and Naples, Florida, once considered to be “superhot” markets, have all declined within the market within the past four years.
Within the index the strongest metropolitan market is St. George, Utah due to their office employment growth.
“It also has very strong population growth and in-migration, and its industrial demand is above average,” Evangelou said.
“So St. George, for example, is the No. 1, because one industry happened to have a good year, so there is a broader momentum over there.”
Evangelou also said that small and midsized markets could provide some of the best opportunities for investors.
The index also broke down where each of the four sectors is seeing their strongest demand, which includes Salem, Oregon and Fairbanks, Alaska.
“When we take a look at New York, San Francisco and the big coastal markets, we see that the large markets are still generally weaker than the fast-growing Sunbelt and smaller markets in this index,” said Evangelou.
Eric Mastrota is a Contributing Editor at The National Digest based in New York. A graduate of SUNY New Paltz, he reports on world news, culture, and lifestyle. You can reach him at eric.mastrota@thenationaldigest.com.
New York City residents are currently dealing with rising energy costs as more local buildings are moving to use electricity over oil and gas, causing their utility bills to skyrocket. Mayor Zohran Mamdani, in response, is making sure his administration prioritizes tenant protection and affordability to combat these new expenses.
Eric Mastrota is a Contributing Editor at The National Digest based in New York. A graduate of SUNY New Paltz, he reports on world news, culture, and lifestyle. You can reach him at eric.mastrota@thenationaldigest.com.
The average long-term US mortgage rate has risen for the fourth consecutive week in a row to the highest it’s been in a year. This marks another major setback for prospective homebuyers who were looking for a break in the market to ideally make their home owning dreams come true.
Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac told PBS this week that the benchmark 30-year fixed rate mortgage rose to 6.66% from 6.58% last week; one year ago the average rate was 6.72%.
For borrowers, higher mortgage rates could add hundreds of dollars a month in costs and limit homebuyers purchasing ability. As the rates continue to rise, prospective shoppers will likely delay buying a home. This is reflected in how slow home sales have been in the US this year.
Borrowing costs on a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage also rose this week. 15-year fixed-rate mortgages are often sought out by borrowers who are looking to refinance a home loan. The average rate increased to 6.04% from 5.96% last week, and a year ago it was at 5.85%, Freddie Mac stated.
The Federal Reserve’s interest rate policy decisions and bond market investors’ expectations for the economy and inflation are two of several factors that impact mortgage rates.
The Iran war has also been a driving factor in the rising mortgage rates throughout the US, as it’s caused oil prices to increase and fueled expectations of general inflation.
The 10-year Treasury yield was 4.66% Thursday on the bond market compared to being just 3.97% in February, right before the war.
The average rate on a 30-year mortgage is now at the highest level since July 31st, 2025 when it was 6.72%. In late February, the average rate dropped slightly below 6% for the first time since late 2022.
The Federal Reserve is struggling to combat high inflation.
“Fed members are no longer in lockstep on inflation and that their next move is not going to be a rate cut,” said Anthony Smith, senior economist at Realtor.com.
“With the Fed signaling that its next move is more likely a hike than a cut, near-term rate relief looks unlikely,” Smith said.
“Because oil remains the primary channel through which the Iran conflict feeds inflation, a de-escalation and a reopening of the Strait of Hormuz remains the clearest path back toward lower rates.”
Average long-term mortgage rates are lower than they were at this time last year, however, their increase in general has had a major impact on the US housing market. In fact, there’s been a national housing market slump since 2022, when mortgage rates began to climb from pandemic-era lows.
“Mortgage applications, which include loans to buy a home or refinance an existing mortgage, fell 6.4% last week from the previous week,” according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.
“While incoming economic data will continue to shape the outlook for interest rates, elevated borrowing costs remain a challenge this summer for many prospective homebuyers,” said MBA CEO Bob Broeksmit.
Eric Mastrota is a Contributing Editor at The National Digest based in New York. A graduate of SUNY New Paltz, he reports on world news, culture, and lifestyle. You can reach him at eric.mastrota@thenationaldigest.com.
John Leguizamo is a New Yorker through and through. After moving to Jackson Heights, Queens from Bogotá, Colombia as a child, he often reflects on growing up as an immigrant and making it in Hollywood. Now, thanks to his massive success in movies, TV, voice work, producing, and more, he makes sure his roots shine bright within his family’s Manhattan West Village home.
Eric Mastrota is a Contributing Editor at The National Digest based in New York. A graduate of SUNY New Paltz, he reports on world news, culture, and lifestyle. You can reach him at eric.mastrota@thenationaldigest.com.
A historic Virginia mansion known for both its unusual architecture and reputation for paranormal activity is on the market, giving buyers the chance to own a one-of-a-kind piece of American history.
The Octagon Mansion in Wytheville, Virginia, has been listed for $295,000. The six-bedroom property spans roughly 5,000 square feet and dates back to 1870, making it one of the few surviving octagon-shaped homes in the United States. The residence has also become known over the years for ghost stories, paranormal investigations and themed events, according to Realtor.com.
Visitors and investigators have reported hearing unexplained voices and conversations, doors opening or closing on their own, objects appearing to move without explanation and sightings of shadowy figures.
Local lore also includes stories of a young girl believed by some to have died during a 1950s polio outbreak, while other paranormal enthusiasts have claimed former residents and even Civil War-era spirits may still linger inside the mansion. None of those claims have been independently verified, but they have helped cement the home’s reputation as one of Virginia’s best-known haunted houses.
“The Octagon Mansion in Wytheville is a genuine rarity, and not just because of its haunted reputation,” Realtor.com Executive Editor Charlie Lankston told FOX Business.
Built during a short-lived architectural movement, octagon homes briefly gained popularity in the late 1850s and early 1860s after some designers argued the eight-sided layout provided homeowners with greater living space while reducing construction costs. The design was also popularized by Orson Fowler’s 1848 book, “The Octagon House: A Home for All.”
Lankston said that enthusiasm didn’t last.
Octagon homes had a brief run in the late 1850s and early 1860s, when some design experts argued the eight-sided layout could give homeowners “more space for less money,” he said. By the early 1900s, however, the style had largely fallen out of favor, and many of the homes were eventually demolished.
Today, many of the remaining octagon houses in the U.S. are on the East Coast.
“The fact that this 1870 property has survived more than 150 years largely intact, with its original hardwood floors, custom millwork, and architectural bones still in place, makes it a unique piece of American history.”
Although the mansion retains many of its historic details, it has undergone significant modernization over the years. Realtor.com reports that upgrades include refreshed bathrooms, updated electrical systems and the addition of a commercial kitchen. The listing also highlights updated plumbing, improvements to the property’s heat pump system and a new roof. Original features such as hardwood flooring, intricate millwork and built-in cabinetry have been preserved.
The home has also climbed onto Realtor.com’s weekly list of most popular homes.
The property’s commercial B-2 zoning offers flexibility for future owners. The mansion could potentially operate as a bed-and-breakfast, event venue or mixed-use property. The listing’s multiple entrances could help support several different uses for the property, while ample private parking adds to its potential.
“For anyone with an interest in preservation, there aren’t many opportunities like this left, particularly at a price point under $300,000.”
The home most recently operated as the Octagon Mansion History Museum after curator John Cushman purchased the property in 2019. During its time as a museum, it hosted recurring “Dinner with a Ghost” experiences that attracted visitors interested in the mansion’s paranormal reputation before the attraction closed in March 2025.
Before Cushman’s ownership, the property had reportedly sat vacant for nearly a decade. Now vacant once again, the listing describes the property as a “rare chance to own a true piece of Virginia history.”
A representative for the property’s most recent owners declined to say why the mansion is being sold.
Moumita Basuroychowdhury is a Contributing Reporter at The National Digest. After earning an economics degree at Cornell University, she moved to NYC to pursue her MFA in creative writing. She enjoys reporting on science, business and culture news. You can reach her at moumita.b@thenationaldigest.com.
The clearest sign that buyers have more room to maneuver may not be found in home prices alone. It may be found in how long a listing sits before a seller accepts an offer.
In May 2026, homes in some major markets were still moving in less than a week. But in parts of Florida, Texas, Louisiana, and the broader Southeast, listings often took several weeks, or even more than two months, to go pending. That widening gap shows just how much the housing market has splintered since the 2022 frenzy.
Zillow data shows that the typical U.S. home listed for sale in May 2026 went pending after about 18 days. In May 2022, the national median was just six days, meaning the typical home was moving three times faster four years ago.
That shift marks a dramatic change from spring 2022, when competition among buyers reached one of the most intense points on record. Listings in many markets were claimed almost as soon as they appeared, with buyers trying to secure homes before mortgage rates climbed further and affordability worsened.
Today, the slowdown is most evident in parts of the Sunbelt.
The metros where homes took the longest to go pending in May 2026 were overwhelmingly located in Florida and Texas. Among the nation’s 250 largest housing markets, the 10 slowest-moving metros were:
Those numbers point to markets where buyers are no longer being pushed into near-instant decisions. Longer selling timelines can give shoppers more time to tour homes, compare listings, request repairs, negotiate price, or seek concessions from sellers.
That is why “median days to pending” is closely watched as a measure of local housing-market leverage. The metric tracks the typical time between listing and going under contract. Because that usually happens before the sale closes, the measure can reveal shifts in demand and inventory earlier than closed-sales data.
When the number of days rises, it can suggest that a market is softening or that sellers are facing less urgency from buyers. When the figure declines, “falling days to pending” can signal a market where competition is increasing, and available supply is being absorbed more quickly.
Florida offers some of the clearest examples of the change. In Miami, the median home took only 10 days to go pending in May 2022. By May 2026, that had stretched to 52 days. Tampa moved from 5 days to 34 days, while Jacksonville moved from 5 days to 43 days.
Other Florida metros also ranked among the slowest-moving markets in the country. Cape Coral, Naples, Punta Gorda, Port St. Lucie, Panama City, and Ocala all posted median times to pending of 54 days or more in May 2026.
Texas has seen a similar shift in several markets. Austin, one of the emblematic boomtowns of the pandemic-era housing surge, went from 11 days to pending in May 2022 to 41 days in May 2026. McAllen, Laredo, and Brownsville ranked among the slowest-moving markets in the country, each with a median time-to-pending of 65 days or more.
Across many of these metros, the longer timelines reflect a very different supply-demand picture than the one that dominated four years earlier. Inventory has risen in many Sunbelt markets, and the buyers still shopping are not operating with the same level of urgency that defined the pandemic boom.
The opposite pattern is still playing out in several inventory-constrained markets, where limited supply has kept listings moving quickly despite elevated mortgage rates.
Many markets in the Midwest and Northeast are still seeing homes go pending quickly. That has kept the pressure on buyers in places where there simply are not enough listings to slow the market in a meaningful way.
The fastest-moving metro among the nation’s 250 largest housing markets in May 2026 was Springfield, Illinois, where the median home went pending in four days. Several other markets followed closely behind:
Several additional metros also recorded a median days-to-pending of 6 days in May 2026. They included Dayton, Ohio; Syracuse, New York; York, Pennsylvania; Reading, Pennsylvania; Manchester, New Hampshire; Peoria, Illinois; Ann Arbor, Michigan; Erie, Pennsylvania; and Topeka, Kansas.
The gap between the slowest and fastest markets is wide. In McAllen, Laredo, Naples, and Cape Coral, the typical listing lingered for more than two months. In Springfield, Columbus, Lancaster, Hartford, Cincinnati, and St. Louis, homes were still going under contract in under a week.
That divide also shows up when comparing current conditions with the 2022 market peak.
Chicago’s median days to pending increased only slightly, from six days in May 2022 to eight days in May 2026. Philadelphia moved from seven days to nine days. Boston went from six days to eight days. Cincinnati rose from three days to six days.
Those modest increases stand in sharp contrast to the jumps seen in Miami, Tampa, Jacksonville, Austin, and other former boom markets. The comparison suggests that the national cooldown has been shaped less by a single housing-market reset than by a patchwork of local inventory conditions.
For sellers, the data shows that pricing strategy now matters far more in markets where listings are lingering. A home that might have drawn multiple rapid offers in 2022 may now need to compete with a larger pool of available listings, especially in metros where inventory has expanded.
For buyers, that means the experience can look completely different from one metro to another. In slower-moving markets, shoppers may have more room to negotiate or take time before making an offer. In faster-moving markets, limited supply can still make the process feel competitive.
Four years after homes routinely went under contract within days, the U.S. housing market is moving at a much slower pace nationwide. But the slowdown is concentrated most heavily in parts of Florida, Texas, Louisiana, and the broader Southeast. In McAllen, Laredo, Naples, and Cape Coral, listings are lingering long enough for buyers to have meaningful room to negotiate. In Springfield, Columbus, Lancaster, Hartford, Cincinnati, and St. Louis, the clock is still ticking quickly.
Moumita Basuroychowdhury is a Contributing Reporter at The National Digest. After earning an economics degree at Cornell University, she moved to NYC to pursue her MFA in creative writing. She enjoys reporting on science, business and culture news. You can reach her at moumita.b@thenationaldigest.com.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani unveiled a sweeping housing blueprint Tuesday that aims to dramatically reshape how and where New York City builds new homes, with a particular focus on neighborhoods that have historically added little affordable housing despite the city’s worsening shortage.
The broader plan lays out a strategy for creating 200,000 affordable homes over the next decade, a major increase in city-backed housing production if achieved. It also includes measures to preserve existing housing stock as property owners face rising operating costs, while expanding opportunities for affordable homeownership.
The administration says the broader proposal would involve roughly $22 billion in housing spending over the next five years, including billions to stabilize and repair public housing across the city.
At the center of the proposal is an effort to address what the administration sees as uneven residential growth patterns across the five boroughs, where wealthier neighborhoods have often resisted new development even as rents and housing demand continue to climb.
“When communities don’t build new housing, rents stay high, housing choice stays limited, and many New Yorkers are locked out of neighborhoods where their families can thrive,” officials wrote in a section of the plan shared with POLITICO ahead of its release.
The city’s housing crisis has become increasingly severe. New York’s rental vacancy rate has dropped to 1.4 percent, the lowest level recorded in more than half a century, while affordable units for lower-income residents remain in critically short supply.
Mamdani announced the initiative in Gowanus, Brooklyn, the same neighborhood where a 2021 rezoning approved by the city triggered a major wave of residential construction.
“Let the largest city in the nation deliver the largest municipal housing transformation this country has ever seen.”
The administration plans to pursue multiple land-use and zoning changes to accelerate housing production. Among them are reforms that would permit additional housing density near public transit hubs.
The use of high-density zoning districts authorized under the state’s 2024 housing agreement will be expanded. In addition, City Hall intends to explore smaller “micro-plans” in certain communities that would permit added housing growth without requiring an extensive neighborhood-wide rezoning process.
“While some neighborhoods are adding significant amounts of housing, other neighborhoods add virtually none,” Mamdani’s housing plan states.
“Some high-cost, resource-rich neighborhoods, like parts of the Upper East Side, the West Village, and Park Slope, are even losing housing as wealthy New Yorkers combine existing apartments faster than new apartments are built.”
The administration is also preparing additional neighborhood-wide rezonings beyond the two already announced projects in Brooklyn and the Bronx.
Mamdani’s approach represents another example of his embrace of supply-side housing, as he continues to advocate for a rent freeze on stabilized apartments and crackdowns on negligent landlords.
“The mayor’s been very clear with me that we need to move at the scale and urgency that the housing crisis demands,” Deputy Mayor for Housing and Planning Leila Bozorg said in an interview. “We’d like to be as ambitious and aggressive as possible.”
Housing advocates largely praised the proposal following its release. Annemarie Gray, executive director of the pro-development nonprofit Open New York, described it as “an all-of-the-above approach that centers on building more homes, especially in the neighborhoods that have not done enough to be part of the solution.”
But some business and real estate leaders raised concerns about the plan’s labor standards and potential construction costs. Steven Fulop, president and chief executive of the Partnership for New York City, said the city’s housing goals were necessary but warned that additional wage requirements could discourage private investment.
“New York needs 200,000 new affordable homes, and it is a moral imperative, but regulations won’t build housing — private investment does. Right now, parts of this plan make that investment harder, not easier.”
Many of the tools Mamdani plans to use were approved during the administration of former Mayor Eric Adams.
Last year, city voters approved a package of charter revisions stemming from a commission assembled by Adams that sought to streamline New York’s often lengthy land use approval process and reduce the City Council’s ability to stop housing developments.
Under the revised rules, affordable housing projects proposed in 12 neighborhoods with the city’s lowest rates of housing production will be eligible for a shortened review process. Instead of requiring final approval from the City Council, those developments would conclude with a vote by the City Planning Commission, where the mayor appoints most members.
City officials plan to determine the 12 qualifying districts by October by measuring affordable housing permit activity in each community district over a five-year period.
The NYU Furman Center identified some of the city’s lowest-producing districts, including Bay Ridge in Brooklyn, Bayside in Queens, and Manhattan’s Upper East Side and Upper West Side.
The plan also places a significant emphasis on the future of the New York City Housing Authority, where residents have long dealt with mold, elevator outages, heating failures and deteriorating buildings. The administration said the cost of deferred repairs across NYCHA has climbed to nearly $80 billion.
Mamdani’s proposal would rely on existing financing programs, including PACT and the Public Housing Preservation Trust, to fund repairs and renovations at public housing developments. The administration said it hopes to renovate 25,000 apartments through the trust program, beginning with developments including Nostrand Houses in Brooklyn and Bronx River Addition in the Bronx.
At least 4,500 vacant NYCHA apartments and the construction of new housing on underused land owned by the authority will be restored. Officials also pledged expanded career training opportunities for NYCHA residents.
Some public housing advocates, however, criticized the continued reliance on public-private partnerships. Ramona Ferreyra, founder of Save Section 9, argued the proposal did not go far enough toward direct public investment. “I don’t need another hotline to call,” Ferreyra said. “I need taxpayer money to be used to invest in, rehabilitate and expand public housing.”
Moumita Basuroychowdhury is a Contributing Reporter at The National Digest. After earning an economics degree at Cornell University, she moved to NYC to pursue her MFA in creative writing. She enjoys reporting on science, business and culture news. You can reach her at moumita.b@thenationaldigest.com.
High-end real estate sales in Manhattan have increased within the past month, despite concerns from the wealthy over New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s proposed pied-à-terre tax.
According to reports from Olshan Realty, there were 133 contracts signed for apartments priced at $4 million or above between April 14th and May 10th. Olshan said that during the same time last year, 130 transactions occurred. The total dollar volume increased by 10% to $1.12 billion.
Reports also show that sales at the higher ends of the market are also still strong. Contracts signed for apartments priced at $10 million or more have surged by 80% to 34 contracts. Real estate brokers and business leaders, however, are warning that a new second-home tax will drive out wealthy New Yorkers.
“The last four weeks demonstrates that an impending pied-à-terre tax has had no effect on the luxury market in Manhattan,” said Donna Olshan, president of Olshan Realty, to CNBC.
The market could, and likely will, turn once the tax is officially imposed as this surge comes as the proposed pied-à-terre tax that is currently going through the New York legislature. This proposed tax is fueling an ongoing debate regarding taxing the wealthy in New York.
The tax was initially proposed by both Mamdani and New York Governor Kathy Hochul on April 15th. If put in place, it would be an annual levy on non-primary real estate in New York valued at $5 million or more. Mamdani also said that the tax will raise $500 million in annual revenue so that wealthy part-time New Yorkers “pay their fair share.”
In response, real estate brokers have been lobbying to halt the tax in Albany over concerns of hurting the market and costing jobs and tax revenue. Second-home owners in New York already pay property taxes but don’t typically use public services that benefit the city like schools or public transportation.
Corcoran Group President and CEO Pamela Liebman told The Real Deal that their group “has so many deals that have been put on pause, particularly at the $30 million, $40 million level, that are just wait and see.”
Mamdani announced his proposal initially in front of Citadel CEO Ken Griffen’s apartment building. Griffin lives in Miami and purchased an apartment in 2019 for $238 million, setting the record for the most expensive home sold in the US Citadel. He’s also building a $6 billion new building on Park Avenue.
In an interview with CNBC, Griffin said he will “expand the Miami workforce over the next 10 years as an immediate and direct consequence of the mayor’s poor decision here, with respect to his posting of that video.”
Mamdani’s press spokesman stated that the mayor “wants all New Yorkers to succeed but the tax system is fundamentally broken. It rewards extreme wealth while working people are pushed to the brink.”
Eric Mastrota is a Contributing Editor at The National Digest based in New York. A graduate of SUNY New Paltz, he reports on world news, culture, and lifestyle. You can reach him at eric.mastrota@thenationaldigest.com.
Actress Eva Longoria recently opened up about her and her family’s decision to leave the US and relocate abroad. Longoria discussed the changes they’ve experienced culturally and whether or not they plan on ever returning to America.
Eric Mastrota is a Contributing Editor at The National Digest based in New York. A graduate of SUNY New Paltz, he reports on world news, culture, and lifestyle. You can reach him at eric.mastrota@thenationaldigest.com.