Don Baker is a full-time staff reporter for RealtyWire, where he covers residential real estate, commercial real estate, multifamily housing, market trends, finance, construction, rental data, and regulatory issues affecting the real estate industry.
Before joining RealtyWire, Don worked as an investor relations director for a multifamily private equity fund, where he wrote investor updates and reporting materials on the performance, operations, and outlook of investment properties. That role gave him hands-on experience analyzing real estate trends, rental statistics, construction activity, financing issues, multifamily operations, compliance matters, and the legal and regulatory factors that shape property ownership and investment.
Don brings a broad understanding of both residential and commercial real estate to his reporting, with a particular focus on helping readers understand how market data, policy changes, capital markets, and local property trends affect buyers, sellers, investors, brokers, developers, and property owners.
He earned a Bachelor of Science in Business from Southern Illinois University and currently lives in Atlanta, Georgia.
Don Baker 
A 10-acre equestrian property in the Olivenhain area of Encinitas sold for $10.23 million to lead the five highest-priced home sales publicly reported in the San Diego, California metro area for the week ending August 9, 2026.
Shareholders of both REITs overwhelmingly approved the merger of equals, clearing the way for Vivmark Residential to begin trading Aug. 18 as one of the largest apartment owners in the country.
County assessors in Colorado, Ohio and Minnesota are warning homeowners about a viral AI-generated video falsely claiming Congress created a federal property tax relief program for seniors.
The Justice Department and Rocket Mortgage have jointly asked a federal court in Colorado to pause a closely watched appraisal-discrimination lawsuit while the two sides pursue a settlement, according to court filings entered July 31 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado. In two joint motions — one requesting a settlement conference … Read more
Bank of America has paid $155 million to buy five buildings and two parking garages it previously leased at its Southside Boulevard operations campus in Jacksonville, Florida, according to Jacksonville business press reporting Aug. 10. The sale closed Aug. 6. The purchase covers roughly 820,000 square feet across Buildings 200, 300, 400, 500 and 600 … Read more
An apartment in a 1901 Lafayette Street building sold for $42 million to lead the five highest-priced home sales publicly reported in the New York, New York metro area for the week ending August 9, 2026.
A 2018 waterfront house on Di Lido Island in Miami Beach sold for $22.75 million to lead five Miami-area closings totaling $71.21 million for the week ending August 9, 2026.
A penthouse in an 1854 Beacon Street mansion sold for $12.50 million to lead the five highest-priced home sales publicly reported in the Boston, Massachusetts metro area for the week ending August 9, 2026.
A 2012 house in The Point sold for $5.72 million in Mooresville, leading the five highest-priced home sales publicly reported in the Charlotte, North Carolina metro area for the week ending August 9, 2026.
A custom estate in Henderson’s MacDonald Highlands sold for $13.30 million to lead the five highest-priced home sales publicly reported in the Las Vegas, Nevada metro area for the week ending August 9, 2026.
Vornado, Rudin Management and an entity tied to Citadel’s Ken Griffin will jointly redevelop 350 Park Avenue into a 1.9M-square-foot trophy tower, with Citadel signing a 15-year anchor lease as part of the $6.2 billion project.
U.S. home sales fell to their lowest level in nearly two years in July, with San Antonio, Dallas and Seattle posting the steepest declines even as West Palm Beach and San Francisco saw sales grow, Redfin found.
A full-floor residence at One Chicago on West Superior Street sold for $7.87 million to lead the five highest-priced home sales publicly reported in the Chicago, Illinois metro area for the week ending August 9, 2026.
The Washington Commanders have selected a joint venture of Clark Construction, Mortenson and Smoot Construction to build their new $3.8 billion stadium at the former RFK Stadium site, with completion targeted for spring 2030.
Dallas Tanner, CEO of the nation’s largest single-family rental landlord, told CNBC he expects the new federal ban on large-scale institutional homebuying to ease prices over time, but not immediately.
A new Consumer Federation of America and Weiss Ratings analysis, highlighted by Realtor.com, finds home insurers collectively earn $8.8 million a day in extra investment income for every day a claim payment is delayed — a $61.6 million windfall over a week.
Douglas Elliman’s second-quarter net loss narrowed to $2.7 million as the luxury brokerage launched an AI transformation, including a new intelligence platform called Elius built with Google Cloud.
Meta is committing $1 billion to a new fund supporting teachers, first responders and infrastructure in the U.S. communities that host its data centers, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Monday.
Shores, a 544-unit waterfront apartment community in Marina del Rey, California, has sold for $170 million to affiliates of Jackson Square Properties, one of the largest multifamily transactions in Los Angeles County this year.
Wage growth for residential building workers slowed to 1.0% in June, with inflation-adjusted pay down 2.4% year over year, as softer construction activity weighs on labor demand, NAHB finds.
JBG SMITH reported a $59.2 million second-quarter net loss and disclosed it has not booked a liability for a $356.1 million court judgment tied to the Wardman Tower condominium case, which it plans to appeal.
Peabody, Mass., a Boston-area suburb, ranked No. 1 on Realtor.com’s 2026 Hottest ZIP Codes report, with listings drawing four times the national average traffic and selling in just 20 days.
The typical U.S. home seller realized a 44.1% return in the first quarter of 2026, down from 47.2% in the fourth quarter of 2025 and 50.2% a year earlier, according to ATTOM. The national median sale price held at $360,000, unchanged from the prior quarter. Sellers are still making substantial money. They are simply making … Read more
A Bel Air estate at 11005 Bellagio Place has listed for $88 million, according to The Real Deal. The property spans more than 18,000 square feet on 1.7 acres. Luxford Group purchased the vacant site for $14.5 million in 2015 and completed the house in 2023. The home previously hosted a Louis Vuitton exhibit, per … Read more
Centric Development and Sage Equities sold a 611-unit, five-property Class A senior housing portfolio in the Atlanta suburbs for $147 million in an all-cash deal arranged by JLL.
Apollo Global Management is investing $1.02 billion in a joint venture with Starwood Real Estate Income Trust covering roughly 120 affordable housing properties, easing SREIT’s liquidity pressure.
Five of the highest-priced publicly reported home sales in the Denver, Colorado metro area for the week ending Sunday, August 2, 2026 — $25.30 million combined, an average of $5.06 million, led by a 19,553-square-foot Cherry Hills Village estate.
National apartment rents rose for a fifth straight month in July, with Sun Belt markets that were hit hardest by new supply showing early signs of recovery, according to Yardi Matrix’s latest national multifamily report.
Dream Finders Homes has agreed to acquire Beazer Homes in an all-cash deal worth about $2.2 billion, the companies announced Aug. 6, ending a monthslong pursuit that started as a hostile bid and closes as a unanimously approved merger creating the nation’s sixth-largest listed homebuilder. Under the agreement, Beazer shareholders will receive $33.50 in cash … Read more
Starwood Property Trust’s GAAP net income fell 95% in the second quarter, dropping to $6.6 million from $129.8 million a year earlier, even as the commercial mortgage REIT’s preferred profitability measure held essentially flat, the company reported for the quarter ended June 30. GAAP earnings per diluted share came in at 1 cent, down from … Read more
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