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 
Governor Michael Barr backed the Fed’s Sept. 16 quarter-point increase and said more are likely in his base case, then laid out why U.S. shelter costs are a supply problem rate policy cannot solve.
The Los Angeles builder reported $1.30 billion of revenue and $1.05 in diluted earnings per share for the quarter ended Aug. 31, with gross margin down to 16.5% and net orders off 12% — offset by a rare backlog increase and 8% community count growth.
A gated estate in Suwanee’s River Club community sold for $4.22 million, the highest reported home sale in the Atlanta metro area for the week ending September 20.
A gated Great Falls estate sold for $12 million, the highest of five Washington, D.C. metro area home sales reported for the week ending September 20, 2026.
A custom home on 10 acres in South Lyon sold for $2.80 million, the highest reported home sale in the Detroit metro area for the week ending September 20, 2026.
The land-banking REIT spun off from Lennar launched two $500 million tranches of senior notes on Sept. 22. If Dream Finders’ takeover of Beazer Homes is not completed by May 13, 2027, the 2031 notes face a special mandatory redemption.
A furnished villa in La Quinta’s Hideaway golf community sold for $4.40 million, the highest reported home sale in the Riverside, California metro area for the week ending September 20, 2026.
NAR’s 2026 Realtors Technology Report, released Sept. 22, found 23% of agents use AI daily and 25% weekly, while the share ruling it out fell to 12% from the 32% who had not tried it a year earlier.
A newly built waterfront house in Tampa’s Beach Park sold for $9.15 million, topping five reported home sales worth $23.18 million across the metro area for the week ending September 20, 2026.
An entire beachfront block in Olde Naples changed hands for $62.5 million, the highest-priced reported residential sale RealtyWire identified nationwide in its Top 5 coverage for the week ending September 20, 2026.
U.S. construction starts fell to a $1.34 trillion annual rate in August, Dodge Construction Network reported Sept. 21, giving back most of July’s megaproject-driven jump. Data centers and power plants still dominated the largest groundbreakings.
A Winter Park house on a nearly half-acre double lot sold for $4 million, the highest of five reported Orlando-area home sales for the week ending September 20, 2026.
A Street of Dreams showcase house above Oswego Lake sold for $5 million, the highest of five reported Portland-area home sales for the week ending September 20, 2026.
A 1983 lakefront house in Tahoe Vista sold for $4.17 million, the highest of five reported home sales in the Sacramento metro area for the week ending September 20, 2026.
A 2020 house on a Cranberry Township cul-de-sac sold for $2.10 million, first among the five highest reported home sales in the Pittsburgh metro area for the week ending September 20, 2026.
A three-bedroom house on 21.9 acres in New Albany sold for $2.30 million, the top of five Columbus-area home sales reported for the week ending September 20, 2026.
A Hunting Valley house on more than five acres sold for $2.70 million, the highest of five reported home sales ranked across the Cleveland metro area for the week ending September 20, 2026.
A newly built Coley Forest house sold for $3.56 million, the highest of five reported home sales in the Raleigh metro area for the week ending September 20, 2026.
A 1921 estate on Nantucket Sound in Hyannis Port sold for $7.25 million, first among the five top reported home sales in the Barnstable Town metro area for the week ending September 20, 2026.
A newly built house in Southport sold for $2,500,125, the highest reported home sale in the Wilmington, North Carolina metro area for the week ending September 20, 2026.
A Canton colonial on 3.5 acres sold for $1.90 million, the highest reported home sale in the Hartford metro area for the week ending September 20, 2026.
A 1962 Westside ranch sold for $1.90 million, first among the Omaha metro area’s five highest reported home sales for the week ending September 20, 2026.
A $21.25 million Greenwich closing led the five highest reported home sales in the Bridgeport, Connecticut metro area for the week ending September 20, 2026.
RREEF Property Trust’s board unanimously approved a plan of complete liquidation on Sept. 15, suspending share sales, redemptions and reinvestment, and will sell seven properties in five states.
The Supreme Judicial Court unanimously rejected Marshfield’s appeal on Sept. 18, upholding the MBTA Communities Act for a second time and clearing the last major legal question over multifamily zoning in 177 Massachusetts communities.
A Back Bay triplex on Commonwealth Avenue sold for $7.40 million, the highest-priced home sale reported in the Boston metro area for the week ending September 13, 2026.
A Coronado Village home sold for $5.63 million, the highest-priced sale reported in the San Diego metro area for the week ending September 13, 2026.
A newly completed Mooresville home sold for $6.70 million, the highest-priced reported home sale in the Charlotte metro area for the week ending September 13, 2026.
A Henderson home in the MacDonald Ranch area sold for $10.20 million, the top reported home sale in the Las Vegas metro area for the week ending September 13, 2026.
A Hyde Park home on Walsh Road sold for $1.92 million, the highest-priced reported home sale in the Cincinnati metro area for the week ending September 13, 2026.
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