{"id":7648,"date":"2019-01-31T15:49:50","date_gmt":"2019-01-31T23:49:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/?p=7648"},"modified":"2026-03-26T07:39:05","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T14:39:05","slug":"real-estate-news-recap-jan-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/real-estate-news-recap-jan-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"New Year, More News! January 2019’s Real Estate News Recap"},"content":{"rendered":"

From everyone at HomeLight, Happy New Year! 2019 started off strong (and chilly; are you doing OK <\/span>Chicago<\/span><\/a>?) as the world stepped away from the holiday cookies and back into reality. <\/span><\/p>\n

We\u2019re fighting crowds at the gym, keeping to those resolutions, and per usual scouring the internet for the latest housing news every month, so that you don\u2019t have to!<\/span><\/p>\n

From forecasts to shutdowns, January presented a mixed bag of the good and the bad and real estate was no exception. So, with 11 more months to go, here\u2019s hoping that the rest of the year isn\u2019t quite so chaotic. <\/span><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s dive right into the top stories: <\/span><\/p>\n

1. Closed for business <\/strong><\/h2>\n

+\u00a0<\/strong>We just (barely) survived the longest government shutdown in history, which came in at a solid 35 days. 420,000 federal workers (including <\/span>51,000 TSA officers<\/span><\/a>) still worked without pay during this period, while the impact rippled throughout the economy and, yes, even the real estate market. <\/span><\/p>\n

+\u00a0<\/strong>But, before you rejoice\u2014<\/span>USA Today, <\/strong>Will there be another government shutdown? Republicans and Democrats don’t want another ‘kick of the mule’<\/span><\/a>: \u00a0\u201cThe White House and congressional leaders struck a deal to reopen the government through Feb. 15. The agreement contained no new money for a border wall, but it did call for a bipartisan conference committee to spend the next three weeks negotiating ways to secure the southern border.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

+\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>MSNBC, Calculating the cost of the 35-day government shutdown<\/span><\/a>. Short summary: about $11 billion. <\/span><\/p>\n

+\u00a0<\/strong>Not only did the Shutdown cut paychecks, but also disrupted the entire economy, including the real estate market.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Courthouse<\/a>
Source: (Katie Moum \/ Unsplash)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

+\u00a0Market Watch, <\/strong>Real-estate agents say government shutdown is impacting the housing market<\/span><\/a>: \u201c<\/span>The survey did find 9% of agents said they were impacted because a federal government employee opted not to buy. But there are other factors at work as well: some 17%, for instance, reported a closing delay due to a USDA loan, 13% reporting a delay due to IRS income verification and 9% reported a closing delay due to a hang up for their FHA loan, all showing the outsized role the federal government plays in the housing market.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

+\u00a0Bankrate, <\/strong>How the government shutdown is disrupting mortgage, real estate transactions<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

+\u00a0Realtor.com, <\/strong>Mortgage Rates Hit a 9-Month Low as Government Shutdown Is Already Biting the Housing Market<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

+\u00a0<\/strong>If you\u2019re selling your house this season, we suggest talking to a top real estate to navigate the impact of the shutdown (if any) in your market.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Let’s dive into the new year with another HomeLight Real Estate Recap! Here’s what happened in the housing market for January, 2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":7653,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[320,334],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-add-value","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHomeLight's January 2019's Real Estate News Recap<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Let's dive into the new year with another HomeLight Real Estate Recap! Here's what happened in the housing market for January, 2019.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/real-estate-news-recap-jan-2019\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New Year, More News! January 2019's Real Estate News Recap\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Let's dive into the new year with another HomeLight Real Estate Recap! Here's what happened in the housing market for January, 2019.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/real-estate-news-recap-jan-2019\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"HomeLight Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gohomelight\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-01-31T23:49:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-26T14:39:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/january-recap-header-pic.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Catrina Sun-Tan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@gohomelight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@gohomelight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Catrina Sun-Tan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"HomeLight's January 2019's Real Estate News Recap","description":"Let's dive into the new year with another HomeLight Real Estate Recap! Here's what happened in the housing market for January, 2019.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/real-estate-news-recap-jan-2019\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"New Year, More News! January 2019's Real Estate News Recap","og_description":"Let's dive into the new year with another HomeLight Real Estate Recap! Here's what happened in the housing market for January, 2019.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/real-estate-news-recap-jan-2019\/","og_site_name":"HomeLight Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gohomelight\/","article_published_time":"2019-01-31T23:49:50+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-03-26T14:39:05+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":720,"url":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/january-recap-header-pic.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Catrina Sun-Tan","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@gohomelight","twitter_site":"@gohomelight","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Catrina Sun-Tan","Est. reading time":"8 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":["Article","BlogPosting"],"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/real-estate-news-recap-jan-2019\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/real-estate-news-recap-jan-2019\/"},"author":{"name":"Catrina Sun-Tan","@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/3bc92b322798262616a1d6d569a66dcf"},"headline":"New Year, More News! January 2019’s Real Estate News Recap","datePublished":"2019-01-31T23:49:50+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-26T14:39:05+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/real-estate-news-recap-jan-2019\/"},"wordCount":421,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/real-estate-news-recap-jan-2019\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/january-recap-header-pic.jpg","articleSection":["Add Value","News & Market Trends"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/real-estate-news-recap-jan-2019\/","url":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/real-estate-news-recap-jan-2019\/","name":"HomeLight's January 2019's Real Estate News Recap","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/real-estate-news-recap-jan-2019\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/real-estate-news-recap-jan-2019\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/january-recap-header-pic.jpg","datePublished":"2019-01-31T23:49:50+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-26T14:39:05+00:00","description":"Let's dive into the new year with another HomeLight Real Estate Recap! Here's what happened in the housing market for January, 2019.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/real-estate-news-recap-jan-2019\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/real-estate-news-recap-jan-2019\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/real-estate-news-recap-jan-2019\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/january-recap-header-pic.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/january-recap-header-pic.jpg","width":1280,"height":720,"caption":"Source: (Heather M. Edwards \/ Unsplash)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/real-estate-news-recap-jan-2019\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"New Year, More News! January 2019’s Real Estate News Recap"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/","name":"HomeLight Blog","description":"Real Estate Advice from America's Top Agents","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"HomeLight","url":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/logo-hr-color.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/logo-hr-color.png","width":1348,"height":262,"caption":"HomeLight"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gohomelight\/","https:\/\/x.com\/gohomelight","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/homelight\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCimugR9XF17-OZ7B9fNnxWw","https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/HomeLight"],"description":"Everything you need to know to sell your house faster and for more money. Articles, guides, and advice from top agents all over the U.S.","email":"support@homelight.com","telephone":"(888) 688-0350","legalName":"HomeLight","foundingDate":"2012-01-01","numberOfEmployees":{"@type":"QuantitativeValue","minValue":"201","maxValue":"500"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/3bc92b322798262616a1d6d569a66dcf","name":"Catrina Sun-Tan","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f09c2b18754e9ba95018eb488688b0dd37948fb7f395783671f2dcc48a805b85?s=96&d=blank&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f09c2b18754e9ba95018eb488688b0dd37948fb7f395783671f2dcc48a805b85?s=96&d=blank&r=g","caption":"Catrina Sun-Tan"},"description":"Catrina is a native San Franciscan with a B.A. in Psychology and minor in Cinema and Media Studies from Wellesley College. A storyteller at heart, she loves to write about people, films, and of course, real estate. Don't be surprised if you catch her browsing luxury homes on Instagram or obsessing over the latest market trends.","url":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/author\/catrinasuntan\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/90"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7648"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7648\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}