Maybe some good news for home buyers? From Marketplace, I'm Nancy Marshall Ginsburg in for David Bancaccio.

Will 2026 be the year that homes finally become more affordable? Tomorrow we get pending home sales for

December. That'll tell us how many homes went under contract. And Zillow recently released a report with some

potentially good news for prospective buyers. Their researchers say homes will become affordable in more

metro areas by the end of this year. Marketplace says Carla Javier brings us this look at affordability.

To be clear, homes aren't suddenly becoming way more affordable for everyone, says Orfe de Vungi at Zillow.

It's going to be a year of small wins.

He says there are three factors.

Incomes have continued to increase.

Mortgage rates have actually fallen relative to a year ago.

And then the third factor is, of course, prices, price growth has remained somewhat flat.

He says that median income households buying today have to spend roughly a third of their income on mortgage payments.

Which is high, but it's actually the best it's been since August 2022.

And Zillow forecasts that home buying in some areas could become even closer to affordable by the end of the year. Spending no more than 30% of

income on home payments, including property taxes and insurance, is the affordability rule of

thumb, says Eric Marie Bojok at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

If you start spending more than 30% of your income on housing costs, then it means you're giving up something else.

For Jessica Lout set the National Association of Realtors, affordability this year?

I think it's a very mixed picture. She says she'll be watching those all-important mortgage

interest rates too. And if more inventory comes onto the market and brings prices down.

I'm Carla Javier for Marketplace. The New York Stock Exchange is working on a new platform for digital trading

that would allow investors to trade around the clock. The platform would be separate from the

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