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Want more housing market stories from Lance Lamberts ResiClub in your inbox? Subscribe to the ResiClub newsletter. This week, Zillow economists published their updated 12-month forecast, projecting that U.S. home pricesas measured by the Zillow Home Value Indexwill fall by 1.0% between June 2025 and June 2026. For calendar year 2025, they forecast U.S. home prices, as measured by the Zillow Home Value Index, will fall -2.0%. Heading into 2025, Zillows 12-month forecast for U.S. home prices was +2.6%. However, many housing markets across the country softened faster than expected, prompting Zillow to issue several downward revisions. While Zillow has since stopped cutting its outlook, it is still kind of bearish. At least over the short-term. Why did Zillow downgrade its forecast for national home prices so many times this year? The rise in [active] listings is fueling softer [home] price growth, as greater supply provides more options and more bargaining power for buyers, Zillow economists wrote in March. Potential buyers are opting to remain renters for longer as affordability challenges suppress demand for home purchases. Essentially, Zillow believes that strained housing affordabilitydriven by U.S. home prices soaring over 40% during the Pandemic Housing Boom and mortgage rates jumping from 3% to 6% in 2022is putting upward pressure on active inventory growth and short-term downward pressure on home price growth. Sellers have been motivated to join the market through the first half of the year, but buyer demand hasnt kept up. With housing inventory accumulating, Zillow forecasts home values will decline by 2.0% in [calendar year] 2025, wrote Zillow economists on Wednesday. Slightly lower mortgage rates toward the end of the year could further aid affordability, but significant improvements appear unlikely. Still, home shoppers have some advantagesplenty of options have given them more bargaining power than in any summer in at least seven years. According to Zillows home price model, the listing site also believes that weakening and softening housing markets across the Sun Belt will weigh on nationally aggregated home prices this year. !function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";r.style.height=d}}})}(); Among the 300 largest U.S. metro area housing markets, Zillow expects the strongest home price appreciation between June 2025 and June 2026 to occur in these 10 areas: Atlantic City, NJ 2.9% Kingston, NY 2.2% Knoxville, TN 2.0% Torrington, CT 1.9% Rockford, IL 1.7% Concord, NH 1.7% Pottsville, PA 1.7% Fayetteville, AR 1.6% Norwich, CT 1.6% East Stroudsburg, PA 1.5% Among the 300 largest U.S. metro area housing markets, Zillow expects the weakest home price appreciation between April 2025 and April 2026 to occur in these 10 areas: Houma, LA -9.6 Lake Charles, LA -9.5% Alexandria, LA -8.0% New Orleans, LA -7.2% Lafayette, LA -7.0% Shreveport, LA -6.9% Beaumont, TX -6.5% San Francisco, CA -6.1% Austin, TX -5.1% Corpus Christi, TX -5.0 Below is what the current year-over-year rate of home price growth looks like for single-family and condo home prices. The Sun Belt, in particular Southwest Florida, is currently the epicenter of housing market weakness right now. !function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";r.style.height=d}}})}();
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E-Commerce
For our 2025 Where the Design Jobs Are report, Fast Company looked at which design tools were being mentioned in job listings across various disciplines, and how that has changed over time. With graphic design, there were a couple of particularly interesting findings. Asks for Blender expertise grew 82% year over year (read about that trend here), while requests for proficiency with Canva went up 72%. When we put Canva on our cover in 2022, some people in the design world viewed it as borderline heresy. The easy-to-use app had become extremely popular because it promised that anyone could be a designera notion that naturally upset some trained designers. But Canva’s templated approach to designing everything from social media posts to T-shirts took off with the masses, and it spilled over to professionals. The working thesis is that Canva, having won over marketing teams first, is now becoming a prerequisite for designers working alongside them. (This makes some sense, especially as the design department has started reporting to marketing in many companies.) The good news is that designers weve spoken to more recently have come to appreciate Canvas updated brand management tools, which essentially allow a designer to codify standards behind logos, typefaces, and colors for others to use. That means that when a marketer creates a slide deck or new social media ad, the standards stay in sync, with less oversight. Canva also requires a fraction of the learning curve of any Adobe product: Many of its tools can be picked up instantly. Interestingly enough, about twice as many graphic design job listings we tracked (9.5%) ask for Figma (the defacto rapid prototyping tool headed to IPO this year) than Canva. But 13 million people use Figma monthly, whereas 240 million people use Canva (including 95% of all Fortune 500 companies). This gap in mindshare demonstrates that Canva, despite its wild install base, simply isnt seen as essential within design as peers like the stalwart Adobe Creative Suite and InDesign, both of which appear in around 40% of graphic design job listings. But Canva has hardly given up on winning over the capital D design market. Last year the company acquired Affinity, which makes software to challenge Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign, and its currently working to integrate this technology into Canva. All of this is to say that a lot is shifting right now, and designers simply need to be more flexible about the tools they use than they were a decade ago. Toss a dollop of AI into the mix, and theres never been a more exciting (or chaotic?) time for graphic design platforms. This article is part of Fast Companys continuing coverage of where the design jobs are, including this years comprehensive analysis of more than 170,000 job listings.
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E-Commerce
After nearly four decades on Wall Street and over 15 years mentoring students and young adults, I’ve witnessed countless young professionals struggle with their job searchesnot because they lack talent, but because they’re trapped in counterproductive habits that sabotage their success before they even begin. The job market has never been more competitive. With AI tools and vast information resources now available to every applicant, the baseline for what constitutes a “good” application has skyrocketed. Today’s job seekers have access to sophisticated résumé optimization tools, interview prep platforms, and industry insights that previous generations could never have imagined. And that means that simply having a polished resume or knowing basic company facts no longer differentiates you from the competition. A saturated job market The COVID-19 pandemic intensified this competition exponentially. Economic disruptions created a massive pool of highly competent applicantsseasoned professionals who were laid off, recent graduates whose traditional entry points disappeared, and career changers seeking more stable industriesall competing for fewer available positions. What we’re witnessing is an unprecedented bottleneck, where exceptional candidates are struggling to get through recruiting filters just because the volume of qualified applicants has overwhelmed traditional hiring processes. This saturation means that even talented individuals with strong credentials are facing rejection after rejection, not due to inadequacy, but due to sheer numbers. Employers who once received dozens of applications for a position now receive hundreds, forcing them to rely on increasingly narrow filtering criteria that can eliminate excellent candidates for arbitrary reasons. In this new landscape, it’s the candidates who go above and beyondwho demonstrate genuine initiative, build real relationships, and create tangible valuewho separate themselves from the pack. The tools are available to everyone, but it’s how strategically and creatively you use them that determines your success. The reality is that most new job seekers are their own worst enemies, repeating the same ineffective strategies that virtually guarantee disappointment. If you’re serious about launching your career, it’s time to break these five destructive habits immediately. Stop the Spray-and-Pray Approach I see this mistake constantly: talented graduates treating job applications like a numbers game, firing off identical résumés to every posting they find. During my years at one of the largest banks in the United States, I reviewed countless résumés. The generic submissions were easy to spot and equally easy to dismiss. Employers aren’t looking for someone who can fill any rolethey want someone who genuinely understands (and is passionate about) their specific position. Every application should tell a story about why you and this particular company are a perfect match. Research the organization, understand their challenges, and demonstrate how your skills address their specific needs. Yes, this takes more timebut would you rather send 50 thoughtless applications that get ignored, or 10 targeted ones that actually generate interviews? Embrace LinkedIn as Your Career Command Center I’m amazed by how many job seekers still treat LinkedIn as an afterthought. In today’s digital world, your LinkedIn profile is often your first chance to make an impression. Worse yet, many young professionals create a profile and then abandon it, missing countless opportunities for meaningful connections. Your LinkedIn presence should be as polished and strategic as your résumé. More importantly, it should be active. Share insights about your industry, comment thoughtfully on posts from professionals you admire, and regularly update your network on your career journey. We encourage young adults to view LinkedIn as a relationship-building platform, not just a digital résumé. The connections you make today become the foundation for opportunities in the future. Many of our most successful clients have landed positions through LinkedIn relationships they cultivated months before they even began their formal job search. Abandon the Perfect Role Fantasy One of the most career-limiting beliefs I encounter is the idea that you should wait for the perfect opportunity. Young professionals often turn down roles that don’t match their exact vision, convinced that holding out will yield something better. This perfectionist mindset ignores a fundamental truth: careers are built through progression. Some of the most successful individuals I’ve mentored started in positions that seemed unrelated to their ultimate goals but provided invaluable experience and connections. Early in your career, prioritize learning and growth over title and salary. A role with exceptional mentorship, challenging projects, or exposure to senior leadership can be far more valuable than a prestigious position where you’ll be isolated or underutilized. The goal is forward momentum, not immediate arrival at your destination. I often tell my mentees that your first job is rarely your last job, but it’s always your launching pad. Choose roles that accelerate your trajectory, even if they don’t perfectly align with your original vision. Master the Art of Strategic Follow-Up The job search doesn’t end when you walk out of the interview room: that’s when the real work begins. Yet countless candidates dont take full advantage of promising opportunities by failing to follow up appropriately. A thoughtful follow-up message accomplishes several critical objectives: it demonstrates your genuine interest, reinforces key points from your conversation, and keeps you visible during the decision-making process. More importantly, it shows that you understand professional norms and can manage relationships effectively. Your follow-up should be personalized, referencing specific moments from your conversation and reiterating how you can contribute to their team’s success. This isn’t about being pushyit’s about being professional and maintaining momentum. I’ve seen talented candidates lose opportunities to less-qualified competitors simply because they assumed their interview performance would speak for itself. In a competitive market, every advantage matters, and strategic follow-up can be the difference between getting the offer or being forgotten Stop Waiting Until Your Senior Year to Think About Career Strategy One of the most limiting mistakes I see is students who coast through their first few years of college without any career planning, suddenly panicking during junior or senior year when they realize competitive rols require years of preparation. Today’s job market rewards those who think strategically early. The most coveted positions, whether in finance, consulting, technology, or other competitive fields, increasingly expect candidates to have meaningful internship experience, relevant projects, and established industry connections. Students who wait until their final years find themselves competing against peers who’ve been building their credentials since freshman year. But let me be clear: starting later doesn’t doom your prospects. I’ve mentored countless students who discovered their career direction during their junior or senior years and still achieved remarkable success. The key is understanding that you’ll need to accelerate your efforts and be more strategic about your approach. The real mistake isn’t starting late; it’s continuing to delay action once you recognize the importance of career planning. Whether you’re a freshman or a senior, the best time to start building your professional foundation is right now. The Path Forward Throughout my career mentoring young professionals, I’ve watched talented individuals gain access to opportunities they never thought possible by simply approaching their job search with the same intelligence and intention they bring to other aspects of their lives. Remember, your job search can be a demonstration of your professional capabilities. Employers are evaluating not just what you’ve accomplished, but how you approach challenges, manage relationships, and execute strategies. The job market may be competitive, but it’s not impenetrable. With the right approach, persistence, and strategic thinking, you can transform your job search from a source of frustration into a launching pad for the career you truly want.
Category:
E-Commerce
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