Beyond the Buildings

Beyond the Buildings host Maiclaire Bolton Smith welcomes Cotality Senior Principal Economist Molly Boesel to examine five common myths about mortgages in the housing market, exploring how grounded data helps clarify today's property landscape.

In this episode:  
2:42 - Why is there a concern that suddenly people are going to cash out?

4:05 – Are homeowners turning to HELOCs and Home Equity Investments to extract value?

6:48 – Will delinquencies continue to rise?

9:10 – Will the "Silver Tsunami" of baby boomer downsizing flood the inventory market?

11:59 – Are institutional mega-investors really dominating single-family home purchases?

15:26 – Allie Barefoot breaks down the latest numbers in the housing market.

16:33 – Can we expect mortgage interest rates to drop back to pandemic-era record lows?

On this episode of Beyond the Buildings, host Maiclaire Bolton Smith sits down with Cotality's Chief Scientist, Howard Botts, to explore Cotality's 2026 wildfire risk report.

In this episode:

1:42 – Why are suburban homes miles from a forest still at severe risk?

4:52 – How much can home hardening actually reduce risk scores?

8:15 – How does El Niño affect wildfire seasons differently in California versus the Pacific Northwest?

10:41 – Why are so many homeowners in wildfire risk areas finding themselves underinsured?

13:28 – Allie Barefoot breaks down the latest numbers in the housing market.

14:14 – What will a truly resilient housing market look like in five to 10 years?

Links:
https://www.cotality.com/resources/reports/cotality-wildfire-risk-report-2026

In the latest episode of Beyond the Buildings, host Maiclaire Bolton Smith sits down with Cotality Chief Economist, Dr. Selma Hepp, and John Burns, founder and CEO of John Burns Research, to explore how built-to-rent communities and shifting investor strategies are reshaping the U.S. housing market.

In this episode:

2:04 – Dr. Selma Hepp breaks down the hard, property-level data behind the true footprint of institutional real estate buyers.

5:46 - John Burns explains how housing starts and localized supply dynamics dictate where builders decide to place competing rental projects. 

9:40 - Why have built-to-rent (BTR) communities suddenly become the preferred asset class for major developers and builders?

11:19 - Can we ever build enough single-family homes to satisfy the intense, overlapping demand from both first-time buyers and active investors?

16:27 – Why are attached living spaces like duplexes and townhomes in Texas and Phoenix suddenly catching the eye of yield-hungry investors?

20:12 – Allie Barefoot breaks down the latest numbers in the housing market.

21:22 – What will the relationship between institutional capital, homebuilders, and individual homeownership look like by 2030?

Links:
https://www.cotality.com/resources/webinars/navigating-the-institutional-investor-market

In the latest episode of Beyond the Buildings, host Maiclaire Bolton Smith sits down with Cotality policy experts Russell McIntyre and Chay Halbert to explore what the ROAD to Housing bill really means for the future of the U.S. property market.

In this episode:

2:30 – Why this bill will incentivize cities to rewrite local zoning and fuel a massive surge in land use analytics.

5:58 - Changes to environmental reviews will speed up development pipelines, but it will make site-selection intelligence essential to find the most viable locations?

7:45 - Hybrid valuations and AVMs are finally taking center stage. How is this data-driven shift permanently reshaping traditional appraisals?

11:04 – Hear how new institutional investment limits will reshape single-family inventory.

12:34 – By cutting an outdated, costly regulatory requirement, can manufactured homes finally scale to close the affordability gap?

15:28 – Allie Barefoot breaks down the latest numbers in the housing market.

16:29 – Will the ROAD to Housing Act genuinely close the supply gap, or is the road ahead simply too steep?

Links:
https://www.cotality.com/insights/articles/wall-streets-canceled-contracts

The historical map of natural hazard risk is no longer the best way to navigate. Thirty-two million homeowners — many of whom have long considered their homes outside of hurricane paths — are seeing their perceptions of risk shift. This shift has the potential to destabilize markets across the U.S.

In this episode:

2:46 – What does hurricane risk look like across the U.S.?

6:08 – Will El Niño affect property risk long-term?

8:38 – How big is this gap in structural preparedness between coastal communities and inland communities?

12:06 – Allie Barefoot breaks down the latest numbers in the housing market.

12:44 – Why does a homeowner's financial future depend so heavily on a speedy recovery process?

Links:
https://www.cotality.com/insights
https://www.cotality.com/insights/articles/us-heatwaves-2026