Housing affordability hit a 33-year low in June, according to NAR data. But an increase in inventory and stabilizing mortgage rates may stem the tide.

Your clients are looking for a home to fall in love with, so here's how to perfect your matchmaking skills and help them find the one.

Agents help families navigate find the right fit in the competitive Arlington, Va., market for single-family homes. "What I tell my buyers is two P's—patience and persistence," said Michelle Doherty, a real estate professional with RLAH Real Estate.

Instead of leading a team to think of sales in terms of a bottom line, advise them to help customers understand the potential for improvement, change and growth, blogger David Brock advises. "For sellers, if we are not helping our customers navigate their buying process successfully, we will not make a sale," Brock asserts.

Challenges in the mortgage refinance industry, price growth softening and a slowdown in construction are all challenges in the current real estate market, but overall the market's foundation remains intact, according to Lawrence Yun, chief economist at the National Association of REALTORS®. "It is still the case that 40% of homes are selling for or above list price due to the ongoing housing shortage," he said.

Jacob Channel, senior economist for LendingTree, says a housing crash is unlikely even as price appreciation slows. "New buyers and current owners should be careful that they're not biting off more than they can chew and that they're keeping up with their payments, but they shouldn't be [losing] sleep over fears that they'll wake up tomorrow to find the entire housing market in shambles," Channel says.

Despite its long history, the Shaker kitchen remains the go-to design choice for many due to its simplicity and functionality. "These kitchens are timeless, simple and beautiful, as well as being easy-to-live with and benefiting from an uncanny knack of being able to fit within any kind of interior scheme, from sleek and contemporary to cozy and classic," Natasha Brinsmead writes.

Attracted by the relatively low cost of online finance in the U.S., Japan's Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group is planning to enter the market with the launch of its Jenius Bank in 2023. Aimed at the internet-savvy 20-40 age group with annual incomes over $100,000, Jenius will begin by offering unsecured loans, followed in stages by savings accounts, personal financial products such as mortgages and credit cards, and investment trusts.

The local government of Sedona, Ariz., is offering homeowners stipends of up to $10,000 if they open their homes to workers in the area. Other communities that are offering incentives for homeowners to provide short-term rentals as workforce housing include Truckee, Calif., Winter Park, Colo., and Woodstock, Vt.

Opendoor Labs has agreed to pay $62 million to settle a Federal Trade Commission case over alleged misleading ads and marketing practices. The FTC claims the company convinced home owners to sell their properties for less than market rates, though Opendoor maintains that it "strongly" disagrees with the accusations.