With rates near 7%, your clients are feeling the financial squeeze. Here are a few secrets to ensuring they get the best deal they can on their loan.

Among those who have seen the "Barbie" movie, 81% say they are now more aware of how patriarchy affects the workplace, and nearly 60% say it made them more supportive of women in leadership. Leaders should take note of such data and use it to boost access to mental health, move more women into leadership roles and increase diversity across the board, because, as human resources expert Kate Palmer points out: "If unconscious bias is practiced, you will be cutting yourself off from the large pool of talent that is available."

Marketers face a "whirlwind of uncertainty" as they try to balance some social platforms' emphasis on connecting with users versus an emphasis on ad opportunities by others, writes Krystal Scanlon. Some marketers are adapting by tailoring content to specific platforms and charting new strategies. "We have to rewrite the playbook on how to empathize, connect and offer true value to the consumers and communities we want to engage," says R/GA's Alexis DeBrunner.

With piqued interest in outdoor living, developers curate amenities for a building's location based on location and a community's needs.

The Commerce Department is reporting a sharp rise in new home construction—another positive economic indicator, along with an increase in retail sales. Single-family home starts continue to be a bright spot.

Despite record construction, vacancies for luxury apartment buildings only rose 30 basis points from the end of last year through the middle of 2023, compared with 40 to 80 basis points for Class B and C apartments, according to Institutional Property Advisors, a Marcus & Millichap division. "Today's high barriers to homeownership are helping support demand for high-end apartments, particularly among the millennial demographic," says John Sebree of IPA.

Real estate technology developers aim to solve transactional pain points but don't always hit the mark. Who's going to tell them how and why their product is falling short? As a user, it should be you. Listen to Drive With NAR for tips on how you can influence new tech entering the market.

Many student loan borrowers took advantage of the pause in payments to buy a home and as payments resume they are facing education bills that are higher than their mortgages. Nearly 7% of student loan borrowers will have to pay $1,000 or more while 23.7 million homes have a mortgage payment of $1,000 or less, according to Black Knight.

A new study points out that underutilized strip malls could help assuage the shortage in affordable housing. "They're often underutilized by various measures, they're often poor areas for the environment, with a lot of asphalt everywhere," says Chris Kuschel, principal planner at Boston's Metropolitan Area Planning Council.

The Atlanta Federal Reserve's GDPNow forecast model shows that third quarter growth for the U.S. economy is likely at a 5.8% annualized rate. However, analysts believe that once more data comes in, the estimate is likely to drop.