Beyond the Buildings

While missing middle housing offers a scalable solution to the national affordability crisis by providing diverse, house-scale options, it remains largely untapped due to restrictive zoning and specialized financing gaps. - These housing types have been largely missing for 70 years because many U.S. zoning laws made it illegal to build anything other than detached single-family homes. - When people move into new middle housing, they vacate older, more affordable units, opening up the housing ladder. - While many cities struggle with housing shortages, regions like Portland, Oregon and South Bend, Indiana have successfully shifted their mandates to unlock new inventory. Links: https://www.cotality.com/insights/podcasts?sort_name=desc

While AI is transforming real estate by recalibrating markets and pricing risk faster than ever, it faces a significant trust gap. - Professionals must be able to see where data comes from, its diversity, and how it is governed. - Quality control remains a human responsibility. Cotality’s From House to Home survey reveals homebuyers still overwhelmingly prefer human expertise over AI-only tools. - Without human intervention and new data infusion, AI risks becoming a "closed loop". Links: https://www.cotality.com/insights/podcasts?sort_name=desc

The U.S. property market is losing its traditional stability as rising insurance premiums and environmental volatility rewrite the rules of homeownership. - - In some high-risk regions, monthly escrow payments are now outpacing the actual mortgage payment. - Features like wind-resistant roofs or elevated foundations can lower insurance costs and increases property desirability. - Property value is moving away from "the view" and toward structure resilience scores—using granular data to ensure a home can withstand future disasters. Links: https://www.cotality.com/insights/podcasts?sort_name=desc

In this compelling episode of Beyond the Buildings, host Maiclaire Bolton Smith delves into the transformative impact of AI on the property market, a conversation featuring Cotality's Chief Data and Analytics Officer, John Rogers. As AI redefines home buying by swiftly recalibrating prices and financing, the episode explores the critical balance between technological advancement and ethical responsibility. John emphasizes the necessity of trust within this new landscape, highlighting the importance of explainable models and human oversight. The discussion reveals how predictive tools can expand opportunities while addressing the industry's obligation to avoid bias and exclusion. Tune in as we examine the evolving relationship between data-driven insights and the human element in property decision-making, shedding light on how trust is becoming the new currency in an AI-driven market.

The year 2025 was marked by stubbornly high interest rates and persistent supply challenges across the globe. However, not all markets moved in the same direction.   - The U.S. market generally cooled off, with price growth slowing down and even falling in some areas.   - Australia saw the housing market grow, fueled by three central bank rate cuts that helped buoy the market. - Still, unaffordability remains a barrier restricting homeownership access to homeownership for many.   Links: Cotality Insights - https://www.cotality.com/insights

2025 saw a variety of legislative proposals aimed at thawing the U.S. housing market and helping relieve persistent unaffordability. - Ideas like 50-year mortgage terms and portable loans target affordability and the lock-in effect, but face hurdles regarding high interest costs and secondary market feasibility. - The ROAD to Housing bill and light-touch density zoning aim to incrementally boost inventory by incentivizing “missing middle" development. - Escalating natural disaster frequency is intersecting with a shift toward state-based aid, threatening housing resilience and stability. Links: Cotality Insights https://www.cotality.com/insights Cotality home price indexes https://www.cotality.com/products/hpi-and-hpi-forecasts

Environmental risks are accelerating in ways the housing market can’t ignore. At the same time affordability pressures and insurance challenges are reshaping where and how Americans can live. - Natural disasters are starting to influence people’s choice of home. Part of it is safety. A lot of it is price. Still, awareness has not yet tipped the scales, and people continue to move to these popular, but risky, regions. - There are signals that people are shifting where they're migrating to. Just look at Florida where the number of new arrivals has slowed in recent years. - Investing in resilience measures before a disaster strikes can help ease the financial burden of a catastrophe. But how much depends on when — and where — you make that investment. Links: Cotality Insights https://www.cotality.com/insights Climate at Cotality https://www.cotality.com/climate

- The NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory-Cotality report, an 18-month effort, provides a structural risk assessment, projecting potential loss from perils over 100-years. - Cotality and NASA used digital twins to model “what if” scenarios, turning data into actionable insights for planning and resilience.   - Property-level hazard assessments could become a standard practice for federal agencies and large institutions looking to proactively prepare their facilities for the changing environment. Links: Cotality Insights https://www.cotality.com/insights Climate at Cotality https://www.cotality.com/climate

The U.S. housing market is facing several “spooky” challenges. Rising costs, higher interest rates, and a growing economic uncertainty are presenting a scary reality homeowners and buyers. These factors are shaping affordability and the way people approach buying and owning a home. - Property taxes have gone up about 30% on average across the U.S. This increase amounts to roughly $1,000 a year for some households. - Rising interest rates are a primary driver of higher rents. When mortgage rates increase, they price out potential homeowners, which increases rental demand. - If a recession occurs, delinquency rates and foreclosures could go up, but they are currently very low. Links: A 13-stop tour of some of the most haunted US places https://www.cotality.com/insights/articles/13-stop-tour-most-haunted-us-places Cotality Insights https://www.cotality.com/insights

Shifts in energy demand reach well beyond individual homes – touching insurance risks, utility costs, community planning, and even national strategy. - Cotality Australia’s "Watts it Worth" report experts dive into why sustainable building choices are increasingly important to consider when assessing Australian homes. -Homes with energy efficiency features, especially solar panels, sell for a measurable premium: 2% - 6% more in the U.S. and over 2.7% in Australia. -Both the U.S. and Australian governments have offered incentives to promote individual solar panel use. Links: Watt's it worth report: https://www.cotality.com/au/insights/analysis/watts-it-worth Resilience rebalances the foundations of property: https://www.cotality.com/insights/articles/resilience-rebalances-the-foundations-of-property

The home insurance industry’s foundations are shifting. Even with major leaps in property data and analytics, a perfect storm of more frequent natural disasters, escalating litigation costs, and market pressures is leaving homeowners and developers increasingly exposed to risk. - There is a fault line straining the insurance industry which could trigger a housing shock with echoes of the last financial crisis. - The traditional insurance model is struggling to adapt to a new era of escalating risks, highlighting the need for a more proactive, collaborative approach. - Having federal programs that can standardize incentive community level resilience measures that can support individual stability will prove to be a cost savings long term.   Webinar registration link: https://www.cotality.com/resources/webinars/making-the-shift Find out more at Cotality.com/insights

Despite advances in technology promising speed and convenience, the complex and often confusing homebuying process leaves many buyers overwhelmed and reliant on expert guidance to navigate it successfully.  - Cotality’s From House to Home survey found that there was an overarching lack of confidence in the homebuying process.   - Expert advice and professional guidance remain crucial to help buyers navigate the process with confidence.  - Technology and AI-driven platforms aim to streamline the process by anticipating preferences and speeding things up.   Find out more at Cotality.com/insights

Demographics are set to redefine what homeownership looks like in the decades ahead. - Current housing challenges are causing a competitive market: high prices, low inventory, and limited affordability. - Builders face today’s housing shortage, but real opportunity lies in designing homes for tomorrow and future generations. - Cotality projects a large growth in multi-generational households due to aging populations and the implications for senior housing.‍ Find out more at Cotality.com/insights

This episode explores the UK’s long-standing experience with energy performance data and retrofit strategies, offering valuable insights for improving home energy efficiency. • The UK has been collecting detailed energy performance data on over 65% for decades, enabling precise property-level modeling that many other countries lack. • Successful retrofit strategies emphasize the importance of long-term planning, data-driven decision making, and tailored approaches for homeowners, landlords, and local authorities. • Government policies and incentives, including lessons from past programs like the Green Deal, play a crucial role in driving energy efficiency improvements and can inform future approaches in countries like Australia and the U.S. Find out more at Cotality.com/insights

AI is becoming more involved in the homebuying process, but disconnected systems are leaving buyers confused and looking to people in order to rebuild trust throughout the process. - Buyers are entering the homebuying process stressed and looking for guidance. Technology has promised speed, but it hasn’t delivered confidence. - Trust in technology doesn’t map neatly to age or buyer stage. It has to do with AI literacy. - People still want people to bridge gaps, build trust, and lead to confident decisions.

Mortgage fraud cases haven't surged dramatically, but subtle shifts in tactics and technologies are reshaping the industry. - Under the umbrella of purchase fraud, transaction fraud risk, such as undisclosed agreements between the parties and down payment fraud, is making waves. - While New York has long been the top state for fraud risk, California ranks in third-place, but the Golden State did show a double-digit increase in risk from the prior year. -Fraud can delay transactions, increase costs, and even prevent first-time buyers from securing deals, eroding trust in the market. In this episode 2:35 – An overview of fraud risk in the U.S. 5:22 – How has the rate of occupancy fraud changed over the past year 8:23 – Why is mortgage fraud so difficult to detect and how can it be mitigated? 10:35 – Has automation opened the door to new mortgage fraud vulnerabilities? 13:44 – How can big data and advanced analytics help with fraud detection? 17:53 – Erika Stanley goes over the numbers in property market in The Sip. 19:29 – How can regulation help with fraud detection and mitigation?

In the second episode of Beyond the Buildings' three-part sustainability series with Cotality Australia, guest host Eliza Owen delves into this often-overlooked but increasingly pressing issue: energy efficiency in Australian homes.   But why is energy efficiency coming into the public conversation now? And what’s driving this shift?   To unpack these questions, Owen is joined by two industry leaders shaping the future of energy-smart housing. Cecille Weldon, founder of WeldonCo Advisory & Future Agent and creator of the award-winning Livability Real Estate Framework, and Tim Lawless, Research Director at Cotality Australia, are breaking down which energy-efficient investments are beneficial for homeowners and why these upgrades will influence the direction of Australian housing. In this episode:  2:55 – Why is energy efficiency becoming a critical factor in the property market? 5:30 – What are some of the key energy efficiency features that buyers and renters should look out for when trying to find a home? 7:12 – How can renters and buyers make their homes more energy efficient? 9:30 – What are some common misconceptions about energy efficiency? 15:29 – How will the role of energy efficiency evolve in the property industry over the next decade? 19:05 – What or who has the greatest potential to drive widespread energy efficiency in the residential market? 21:40 – Erika Stanley looks at the numbers in the housing market in The Sip.  23:45 – What key findings about energy efficiency reveal about the evolution of Australia’s housing stock? 32:02 – How is technology changing the way we assess and understand energy resilience across the market? Find out more at Cotality.com/insights

The ripple effects of unaffordable—or unavailable—insurance reaches beyond individual households and is distorting entire housing markets. — In the U.S. and Australia, increasing natural disasters are putting pressure on governments and homeowners to find safe and affordable housing solutions. —Data is providing key insights to help identify and prioritize mitigation measures for particularly vulnerable communities. —Environmental pressures have altered natural disaster response over the past decade, and there are a few things the U.S. could learn from Australia's approach. In this episode: 2:37 – How have recent natural disaster events in the U.S. and Australia shifted how we understand environmental risk? 5:47 – How has natural disaster response changed in the last 10 years, and what role does data play in disaster response? 9:53 – How is the property industry keeping up with the increasing severity of natural disasters? 14:31 – Where are the biggest opportunities to build smarter, safer communities? 17:45 – Erika Stanley goes over the numbers in property market in The Sip. 18:50 – Why is it becoming more difficult to insure high-risk homes? 20:56 – How can better data and insights help insurers mitigate risk rather than exit the market. 25:22 – What is one change that could effectively help insurers prepare for environmental risk?

This episode of Beyond the Buildings host Maiclaire Bolton Smith and Cotality’s Assistant Vice President of Product Marketing Tom Larsen explore the escalating crisis in homeowners insurance, revealing why premiums are rising and what it means for homeowners and insurers nationwide. Discover why some states are hit harder than others, how government insurance programs can remain sustainable, and what new innovations might offer hope for homeowners. - Insurance costs are climbing non-coastal states like Oklahoma and Texas, pressuring the long-term affordability of homeownership. - Billion-dollar natural disasters, shifting risk tolerance, and more expensive reinsurance is transforming how insurers are pricing — and providing — policies. - Explore why this routine homeownership policy has become a barrier to homeownership.

Florida’s proposal to eliminate property taxes sounds like a radical affordability solution — but what would it actually cost? In this episode, Maiclaire Bolton Smith and Chay Halbert unpack the financial, political, and social tradeoffs behind this bold move. • Eliminating property taxes would gut funding for schools and public services, forcing states to consider more inconsistent funding alternatives like sales tax hikes. • Florida’s affordability crisis is already pushing people out of major cities like Miami, and this proposal could deepen inequality. • Replacing lost revenue isn’t as simple as it sounds — and may create more complex issues than it solves Florida on the Brink: https://www.cotality.com/insights/articles/florida-on-the-brink Meet Cotality: https://www.cotality.com