COVERAGE INFORMATION:
California Department of Real Estate (DRE) NEWS CLIPS service coverage:
Monday through Friday (except state holidays) each week includes electronic format articles retrieved from newspapers or news services that report real estate related news in California and some national services. Coverage is for California newspapers that are available electronically via the Internet - and any significant related breaking news.
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Copyright © , California Department of Real Estate
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Tuesday, February 17, 2026
Top Stories
What will the spring homebuying season look like with rates lower now? Here's what some experts expect.
TIM MAXWELL, CBS News
Spring, a season that is traditionally one of the better times for homebuying, is right around the corner. Not only do the months of April and May generally offer the most new listings of the year to homebuyers, but the spring weather is also generally better for touring homes and getting the timing right for a summer move. This spring homebuying season could be noticeably different from what it was just a year ago, though.
National News
New-Home Price Cuts Rise as Homebuilder Confidence Drops for a Second Straight Month
JOY DUMANDAN, Realtor.com
Homebuilders are trying to lure homebuyers with incentives, despite builders facing higher costs to build a new home.
Builder confidence in the market for newly built, single-family homes fell one point to 36 in February, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index released Tuesday. "While the majority of builders continue to deploy buyer incentives, including price cuts, many prospective buyers remain on the sidelines," NAHB Chairman Buddy Hughes, a homebuilder and developer from Lexington, NC, said. "Although demand for new construction has weakened, remodeling demand has remained solid given a lack of household mobility."
California News
Column: Want lower home prices? Cut incentives for house investors
JONATHAN LANSNER, East Bay Times
Basic economics tells you that if you lower the demand for a product, the price should fall. Limiting financial incentives for housing investors could increase the share of homes owned by the folks who live there. Consider a new study from the American Enterprise Institute. It notes that favorable financing available to small-scale house investors nationwide may provide 10% more buying power than traditional mortgages offered to the general public.
Bay Area home prices soar near BART. What happens if stations close?
RACHEL SWAN, San Francisco Chronicle
The homes in San Francisco’s Glen Park neighborhood have many hot amenities, from tiled fireplaces to spacious backyards. But some residents cite one feature, above all else, that drew them to the area: They wanted to live near BART. “It’s definitely a big part of why we moved here,” said Micha Hershman, who lives in a periwinkle house with terra cotta trim, two blocks up from the Glen Park Station. He and his wife ride BART up to 20 times a week, catching trains to the office, to run errands or to date nights in the Mission District.
Industry News
Money Saving Monday: How AI is affecting the real estate industry
TRISHA HENDRICKS, NBC 12 (Phoenix)
AI is moving beyond emails and playlists. It’s now a powerful tool in real estate, with agents using it to polish photos, write listings and even digitally stage homes. But how much is too much? And when does it cross into deception?
Artificial Intelligence is quickly transforming real estate, with home sellers now using it to squeeze out any advantage they can, even if it means blurring the lines between real estate and AI-driven real estate.
Real Estate Technology
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Property News
Zuckerberg is moving to Florida
Palo Alto Daily Post
Billionaire Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg — whose compound of homes in Palo Alto has become a lightning rod for critics — is in the process of moving to south Florida, the Wall Street Journal reports.
He’s the latest billionaire to flee from California to avoid a possible one-time 5% “billionaires tax” for any individual worth at least $1 billion dollars retroactive to Jan. 1, 2026. Others to leave include Google co-founders Larry Page of Palo Alto and Sergey Brin of Los Altos Hills, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison formerly of Woodside, and PayPal/Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel, previously a resident of Hollywood Hills.
Zuckerberg and his wife, Dr. Priscilla Chan, are buying a nearly completed mansion on Indian Creek Island, a 300-acre, man-made islet near Miami with 41 lots, 84 residents and a 13 member police force, the Journal reports.
In Case You Missed It
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Resources, Webinars, and Other Items of Interest
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