ULI Report Shows How America Can Make Housing Affordable Again

• House poor: A new report reveals how some cities and states are breaking through barriers to bring more housing to their communities.

• Mandatory mandates: The lawsuit challenging the National Association of Realtors’ mandatory membership fees has been revived in appeals court.

• Negative Yield: Dozens of Yieldstreet’s investments are struggling, an investigation reveals, putting the fractional real estate ownership model under scrutiny.

• Office-to-residential conversion: Webinar on data-driven metrics and insights for profitable office-to-residential conversions. Sign up

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Perspectives

ULI Report Shows How America Can Make Housing Affordable Again

A new report from the Urban Land Institute makes clear that housing innovation in 2025 is being driven less by Washington and more by state and local governments. Cities are reframing permitting delays and outdated zoning codes as solvable bottlenecks, with Seattle shaving months off project approvals and Chattanooga rewriting its zoning code for the first time in half a century. Rhode Island has gone even further, funding reforms in nearly 40 municipalities to allow duplexes, triplexes, ADUs, and multifamily by right across the state. The result is a patchwork of regulatory changes that give developers faster, more predictable pathways to bring new housing online.

At the same time, new obstacles are reshaping the economics of building. Insurance costs have surged up to 100 percent in climate-vulnerable markets, forcing affordable housing providers to defer maintenance or dip into reserves, while some underwriters are refusing coverage altogether for older buildings. States are also experimenting with property tax reforms to make affordability pencil out, from income-based assessments in Tennessee to tax exemptions in Texas and California. Micro-apartments, co-living, and modular construction are also moving into the mainstream, aided by new policies and public-private partnerships that support speed, efficiency, and adaptive reuse.

Taken together, these shifts show a housing system being reimagined from the ground up. Local governments are adopting civic tech tools once reserved for private developers, giving them new precision in planning and permitting. States are proving that tax codes and zoning laws can be powerful levers for affordability. And developers who adapt to this policy-driven market will find more opportunity in fast-tracked approvals, innovative design models, and more sophisticated public-sector partners. The federal government may be pulling back, but the action at the state and local level suggests that the future of housing lies in bold, decentralized reforms that reward those ready to move with it.

Overheard

Technology

NAR’s Mandatory Membership Fees Are Still Being Challenged in Court

The National Association of Realtors has had a tough year, settling its commission sharing lawsuit for $418 million. It did receive some good news, though, as it was able to win the three lawsuits over its mandatory membership requirements. But that victory might have been short-lived. On August 18, broker-owner Lou Eytalis filed an appeal in the Fifth Circuit, challenging the lower court's dismissal of her antitrust claims against NAR, the Texas Realtors, Wichita Falls Realtors, and Paragon MLS Connect. This is the third such challenge to reach that stage in recent weeks, signaling a resurgence of legal momentum against the powerful trade group.

NAR has long required brokers to join multiple associations—state, local, and national—to access Multiple Listing Services (MLS). To many, that’s simply the cost of doing business in real estate. To Eytalis, and now to others following suit, it was an example of anti-competitive overreach. If these mandatory membership schemes are overturned on appeal, it could pave the way for an alternative listing system that doesn't require an NAR membership.

This comes at a time when broader antitrust scrutiny is being put on the real estate industry. With parallel appeals already filed in Texas, Pennsylvania, and even over Zillow’s MLS rules, this wave of litigation may finally force NAR and the industry at large to reckon with its long standing practices. The latest appeal isn't just a possible reversal of one ruling, it’s part of a growing chorus questioning how much power a trade group like NAR should wield over the entire real estate industry.

Yieldstreet's Real Estate Struggles Could Shake the Fractional Ownership Market

Yieldstreet, a once-heralded platform promising to democratize access to private real estate, recently disclosed steep losses and defaults in a large swath of its real estate deals. The ripple effects of these bad investments extended beyond its investor base. A recent review of 30 real-estate offerings revealed that four deals ended in total loss and another 23 are on watchlists and have triggered approximately $78 million in defaults in just the past year.

The setbacks unfolding at Yieldstreet pose a broader question: if one of the most prominent platforms in fractional-ownership tech stumbles, what does that mean for the rest of the ecosystem? From crowdfunded real estate to tokenized assets, many platforms operate under the same model—packaging illiquid, high-yield investments for retail or accredited investors. If Yieldstreet’s troubles shatter the trust foundation, the whole sector could continue to stagnate under heightened scrutiny.

In recent years, platforms have touted their ability to deliver access, diversification, and returns that were once the exclusive domain of institutions. But today’s events expose the opposite: rather than filtering in only the most discerning opportunities, these platforms may, in fact, be absorbing the most distressed, hardest-to-fund deals.

The damage goes beyond Yieldstreet’s credibility. Regulators may now zero in on how fractional-ownership firms represent risk, value illiquid holdings, and manage defaults. Investors, already conditioned to expect volatility in private markets, might grow increasingly wary of any real estate platform that hinges on high projected returns without transparency. Yieldstreet’s real-estate problems aren’t just its own—they’re casting a shadow over the entire fractional-ownership playbook, threatening to frighten investors off at a critical moment.

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Propmodo Daily is written and edited by Franco Faraudo with contributions from readers like you and the Propmodo team.

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