These four quick DIY tasks—and the addition of a few accessories—can have dramatic results.

Plants can be used to draw the eye to attractive room features as well as fill in floor plan gaps, designer Charlie North says. Neutral paints provide a pleasing backdrop and enhance the effect of natural light, while textiles and art add a pop of color and sense of depth.

A guarantor mortgage could make the difference for buyers struggling to afford rising home prices. Clients with lower incomes, small down payments or less-than-perfect credit scores could benefit from such an arrangement.

Homeowners who want to sell quickly should contact their agent first to prioritize what needs to be done and strategize on how best to present the house, says Craig McCullough of the Catalyst Group at Compass. Keeping rooms clear of clutter and high-return projects like kitchen or bath updates are a good starting point, with quick fixes such as replacing outdated faucets and lighting being key to prepare for a fast sale, McCullough says.

The housing inventory shortage has touched nearly every area of the country. Now with interest rates rising, real estate professionals are contemplating how these trends will influence buyers and sellers down the road.

Despite its slow adoption in real estate, digital currency has the power to improve accessibility to homeownership and shorten the homebuying process.

Special Purpose Credit Programs provide a pathway to homeownership for minority groups who may not have access to generational wealth, writes Bob Broeksmit, CEO of the Mortgage Bankers Association. Participants can use the program to help with part of their down payment and potentially shrink the racial homeownership gap, Broeksmit adds.

Foundation Communities has received $6 million from the Capital Magnet Fund to support a $30 million affordable housing initiative focused on the Austin, Texas, area. "[T]his award from the Treasury Department moves us closer to welcoming home more than 2,000 residents, many of whom will come directly out of homelessness," said Executive Director Walter Moreau.

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority has committed to push back against gentrification around future train lines through the land-banking process. It plans to purchase land early in the planning process to later sell to affordable housing developers.

Although the current housing shortage is partly due to corporate investors buying up hundreds of thousands of single-family homes over the past decade, a slowdown in new-home building since the Great Recession is also a major factor as home builders face increasing zoning laws and rising prices, according to experts testifying at a U.S. House Financial Services Committee hearing this week. "Exclusionary zoning rules make it difficult to build in places where there's a lot of demand for new homes, like big urban areas," says Mark Zandi of Moody's Analytics.