Mike Douglas is a business and real estate writer based in suburban Chicago, bringing together professional newsroom experience, firsthand brokerage knowledge, and a practical interest in property investing. He earned a BS from Arizona State University and went on to report for multiple newspapers, including the Chicago Tribune, where he covered business and real estate.
Before focusing on real estate journalism, Mike spent five years as a Realtor in Phoenix, giving him direct insight into buyers, sellers, agents, negotiations, and the day-to-day realities of local housing markets. Today, his reporting draws on both his journalism background and his real estate experience to explain market trends, housing developments, and industry changes with clarity and authority. As a novice multifamily real estate investor, Mike also brings a hands-on perspective to coverage of property ownership, investment strategy, and long-term market opportunities.
Mike Douglas 
The 10 largest homebuilders captured 43.6% of new single-family home sales nationally in 2025, but that understates their true reach — in some metro markets, the top 10 builders now control nearly all new-home construction.
The Federal Reserve held its benchmark rate steady on July 29 in a 9-3 vote, with three officials pushing for a hike — an unusually hawkish split that leaves mortgage rates likely to hold near current levels into the fall.
Freddie Mac’s second-quarter net income climbed 61% from a year earlier to $3.8 billion, lifting the mortgage giant’s net worth to $78 billion as it keeps building capital toward eventual release from federal conservatorship.
Apartment REIT UDR raised its full-year 2026 guidance after second-quarter leasing strength, occupancy and resident retention all outpaced the company’s prior expectations.
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and his wife sold their longtime Chevy Chase, Md., home for $3.44 million — more than $200,000 over asking — just weeks after quietly listing it.
International buyers spent $45.3 billion on U.S. homes in the year through March 2026, down 19% as transactions fell to their second-lowest level since 2009, NAR’s annual report finds.
Buyers of newly built homes spend about $8,750 more than non-moving households in their first year of ownership, while existing-home buyers spend roughly $8,674 more, according to a National Association of Home Builders analysis — but the two groups spend that money very differently.
MassDOT is seeking developers for a 20-acre Fall River, Mass., waterfront site that officials say could draw close to $1 billion in private investment and 1,000-plus homes.
A Leon County judge heard arguments over the ballot wording of Florida’s proposed homestead property tax amendment, which would raise the exemption to $250,000 by 2028 if approved in November.
S&P Cotality Case-Shiller data for May show a 1.1% annual gain nationally, with Chicago and New York leading and several Western and Sunbelt metros declining as inflation outpaces price growth.
Atlanta-based MDH Partners bought a Sunrise, Florida industrial property for $40.1 million from a Clarion Partners affiliate that had held it for more than a decade.
Pacific Urban Investors bought the 387-unit A’Cappella Apartment Homes in Lynnwood, Washington, from Weidner Apartment Homes for $112 million in a CBRE-brokered deal.
Galaxy Digital sold $3.507 billion in senior secured notes to fund new construction at its Helios data center campus in Dickens County, Texas, where CoreWeave has committed to lease the entire 800-megawatt site.
New RGB income data show stabilized tenants earn far less than market-rate renters on average, but board member Arpit Gupta says a meaningful share earn six figures, reviving a debate over how well the program targets lower-income households.
The NNSA has selected Amentum and DC BLOX to negotiate a phased lease for a 1-gigawatt AI data center backed by 2 gigawatts of on-site power at the Savannah River Site in Aiken County, South Carolina. No lease is final and construction has not started.
Nvidia and South Korea’s SK Group signed letters of intent for a partnership worth more than $500 billion, including a 2-gigawatt AI data center SK Telecom will build using Nvidia’s Vera Rubin platform.
A new federal law, the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, links Community Development Block Grant funding to how fast cities build housing and creates a $200 million annual grant fund for zoning reform, but implementation faces a leaner HUD.
A historic 1936 mansion in Glencoe, Ill., built for a Pabst Brewing executive, sold for $17.5 million, the highest price paid for a Chicago-area home so far in 2026.
Florida recorded the nation’s highest foreclosure rate in the first half of 2026, with one in every 373 homes filed on, as U.S. foreclosure activity climbed 21% year over year, ATTOM reported.
Bridge Logistics Properties acquired a 782,775-square-foot Class A distribution facility in Frederickson, Wash., fully leased to Harbor Freight Tools, marking its largest Seattle-Tacoma area purchase to date.
Voice cloning lets fraudsters confirm fake wire instructions in your agent’s exact voice. Why callbacks no longer protect closings — and what does.
Google has recommitted to roughly 2.1 million square feet of office space in Sunnyvale, renewing leases at Moffett Place and Moffett Gateway in a reversal of its recent space-cutting strategy.
NMHC’s July Quarterly Survey of Apartment Market Conditions shows debt and equity financing worsening and sales volume pulling back, even as market tightness improves nationally.
Chicago’s industrial vacancy rate climbed to 5.06% in the second quarter, according to Colliers, as absorption slowed and previously leased warehouse space returned to the market.
Lodging Econometrics’ Q2 2026 data shows the U.S. hotel construction pipeline reached 5,975 projects and 703,001 rooms, with record highs in luxury, upper upscale, and conversion activity.
Fitch Ratings analysts said in a July 24 webinar that the U.S. housing economy has moved from stagnation into contraction at mid-2026, citing weak new-home sales, elevated mortgage rates and a mortgage lock-in effect even as home prices hit record highs.
Santa Cruz County topped NLIHC’s Out of Reach 2026 report for a fourth straight year, requiring an $81.04 hourly wage to afford a $4,214/month two-bedroom rental.
Equity Union Real Estate opened its first office outside California, launching Southern Nevada operations led by Jason Lindstrom and Melissa Dominguez-Martin.
Harvard’s State of the Nation’s Housing: sales near 30-year lows, $120K income needed for the median home, and a 7.2-million-unit affordable-rental gap.
Sotheby’s International Realty acquired Majestic Realty Collective — eight affiliates from Vail to Lake Tahoe — as luxury brokerage consolidates.
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