With average mortgage rates now dipping below 6% for the first time in years, many people are taking a fresh look at their housing options. After a period defined by high borrowing costs and limited inventory, falling rates are renewing interest among first-time buyers, growing families, and homeowners considering a move.
As this renewed activity gathers momentum, it is essential that consumers have access to a vibrant and transparent online marketplace — one that empowers them with clear information, meaningful choices, and fair pricing.
The White House has underscored that housing affordability is not merely a market concern but a national priority. The administration has focused on structural drivers of rising costs, advancing policies aimed at boosting supply, trimming regulatory obstacles, and ensuring that working families have a genuine opportunity to achieve homeownership.
RECLAIMING AFFORDABILITY: REASONABLE COST OF LIVING IS ON WOMEN’S MINDS. HERE’S HOW TO DELIVER IT
Among these efforts is the removal of the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule, a move projected to save tens of millions of dollars annually in compliance costs while restoring greater decision-making authority to local governments. Additionally, in early January 2026, President Donald Trump announced that he was calling on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to purchase roughly $200 billion in mortgage-backed securities in an effort to apply downward pressure on their yields, which can translate into reduced borrowing costs for homebuyers.
At the same time, it’s beneficial for American companies to reinvent channels for home-buying and the web-based tools that millions of people rely on to search for homes. As in the case of Homes.com, gradual market disruption can pave the way for consumer advantage through greater options, added transparency, and reduced reliance on entrenched power players. This sounds like a recipe for success, right?
Well, a small but mighty contingent of investors is seeking to tell us otherwise. Two Wall Street funds, Third Point and D.E. Shaw, have urged the operator of Homes.com to retract its leadership and strategy — and in the process, concede any traction gained among consumers in the home-buying and selling space. Such an approach and counsel are not only head-scratching for the public market but also run counter to federal regulators’ perspective and the alarm bells they have set off in recent years about the possibly predatory environment. In determining that the online listing space is concentrated among a small number of firms, the federal government has brought legal action against a leading operator over practices alleged to have constrained competition.
Government intervention aside, it is no easy task to break into technologically rigorous and data-intensive industries such as the online home listing market, and it is notable how Homes.com’s creator (CoStar) has elaborated on the wind-down of its startup phase. That’s all to say that time and resources to stand up its AI functionality and user experience systems are paying off as the company transitions more toward maintenance and upkeep of the services.
Despite projections of profitability and continued revenue growth, the forces of hedge funds are opting for intervention. Forcing Homes.com to retreat prematurely would shrink competition not through market forces but through shareholder pressure. It raises the question of whether the platform has been given a fair opportunity to prove its value in the marketplace. Allowing innovation to rise or fall based on consumer response — not activist campaigns — better aligns with the principles of open competition.
The broader track record of Third Point’s activist interventions also warrants scrutiny. In 2024, Advance Auto Parts agreed to appoint three new board members following the activist hedge fund’s demands, marking the first time activists had influenced its board in years. Then, after a year and a half, the company reported weaker mid-year results and had to cut its full-year 2025 earnings outlook, signaling a languishing turnaround around plan that neglected to optimize operations and stabilize growth.
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The lesson highlights the risks that can accompany highly public campaigns: strategic inconsistency, and uncertain long-term benefits. The stakes are particularly high when such pressure affects platforms that shape how Americans buy and sell their homes.
As innovative businesses work to create new value and opportunity — and the administration drives its own judicious actions on affordability — maintaining robust competition in the digital housing marketplace is essential. Short-term financial maneuvers that diminish rivalry may prove to be lucrative for a few — but they risk undermining the long-term consumer benefits that a dynamic and competitive market can provide.
Saulius “Saul” Anuzis is President of the International Institute and of the 60 Plus American Association of Senior Citizens. He was chairman of the Michigan Republican Party from 2005–2009 and was also a candidate for national chairman of the Republican National Committee in 2009 and 2011, as well as a Member of the RNC from 2005–2012. He is the founder of the Next Generations Project.