Top stories of 2025: Fed moves, Zillow battles and buyer angst 

A lot happened in the world of residential real estate last year — brokerage competition heated up, consolidation accelerated in a big way, artificial intelligence was suddenly everywhere, and the market never really got moving despite occasional hints of a rebound. 

But which headlines captured the attention of our readers? 

Our most-read stories of 2025 centered around three themes: housing and the broader economy, Zillow's highs and lows, and buyer behavior in an affordability-challenged market.

These stories didn't just reflect what happened — they provided insight into what real estate professionals and consumers were eager to understand amid a rapidly evolving industry and economy.

Navigating an uncertain economy

When Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell took the mic in 2025, people listened. 

While Fed actions sometimes go under the radar, in a year of inflationary concerns, tariffs and elevated mortgage rates, the agency and its leader were often in the spotlight. When Powell signaled that the Fed was ready to start cutting short-term interest rates during a speech in August, the markets reacted immediately — and readers clicked through in droves to learn about what the Fed's moves could mean for housing, resulting in our No. 1 most-read story of the year. 

After announcing a third consecutive rate cut following the Fed's final meeting of the year, Powell noted that housing would continue to be "a problem" going into 2025, prompting another flurry of clicks. And earlier in the year, readers rushed to learn about the April rate surge amid tariff-driven volatility.

In addition to Fed moves, readers cared about economists' housing market predictions for 2026 — which, during this era of economic flux, included a range of forecasts. Expectations of a housing "reset" instead of "rebound" in 2026 may not be too surprising — economists signaled as far back as last July that the market could remain "stuck" for the rest of 2025 — but the story still garnered significant reader engagement. 

Zillow's headline year 

The leading home search site served up big news — and faced major battles — in 2025. The debate over private listings was well underway by the time NAR announced its pre-marketing companion policy to Clear Cooperation in March, but when Zillow revealed a plan to change its listing rules in April, the industry — and our readers — paid attention. 

The portal's decision to bar publicly marketed listings that weren't shared broadly via the MLS became one of the year's most-read stories and one of the industry's most prominent issues. Despite harsh criticism from the leaders of Homes.com and Compass, Zillow began to enforce its listing ban on June 30, and readers flocked to understand the practical implications and the legal fallout that ensued. 

In addition to following Compass' lawsuit challenging Zillow's listing rules and an attempt to stop the private listing ban, readers wanted to learn more about another legal action against Zillow: November's amended complaint adding RICO claims to an antitrust case alleging steering and potential RESPA violations — a late-year story that became one of our most-read articles of 2025.

Shifting buyer behavior and sentiment

While industry leaders argued about listings and lawsuits, consumers were still trying to plan their next move in a housing market that often didn't feel favorable to anyone. Even when mortgage rates were near their lowest levels of the year, buyers — who have been dealing with a weaker job market, stagnant wages and mixed economic signals — weren't rushing back. Readers seemed particularly interested in understanding how these issues might explain why buyers were ghosting the housing market. 

Buyer hesitation was a recurring theme throughout 2025. Another popular story provided end-of-year analyses from economists suggesting a buyer's market could persist "for the foreseeable future" with sellers cutting prices and offering concessions to lure demand.

Readers were also interested in emerging friction points that could derail transactions altogether — particularly our story on the growing homeowners insurance crisis, which is increasingly causing deals to fall apart.

Oh, and that mega-merger

One other top story? Compass' blockbuster September announcement of its plans to acquire Anywhere. 

The news drew major attention as a signal of brokerage consolidation and a possible sign of things to come, including the expansion of private listings, competitive dynamics among small and mid-sized firms, and the future balance of power between portals, brokerages and MLSs.