Real estate trends and prices continue to dominate news headlines, as debates on just where the housing market may be headed rage on. In a move to add further insight (and in many cases, balance) to the conversation, CooperKatz client Coldwell Banker Real Estate debuted a new measure of affordability in the U.S. housing market in late September. The Coldwell Banker Home Listing Report is a snapshot survey of four-bedroom, two-bathroom home listings on coldwellbanker.com between February and August 2010 in nearly 300 U.S. markets and select Canadian markets where Coldwell Banker has a presence.

This week, Ad Age published a story written by Michael Bush titled, “As Media Market Shrinks, PR Passes Up Reporters, Pitches Directly To Consumers.”  Bush notes in the piece that traditional approaches to public relations are challenged now given ongoing shifts in the media landscape — and that “instead of pitching their stories to reporters, a growing number of marketers are directly engaging consumers through original content they and their agencies are creating.”

Each year, the Coldwell Banker Home Price Comparison Index (HPCI) provides an apples-to-apple comparison of similar 2,200 square foot, four-bedroom, two-and-a-half bath homes in the United States and a sampling of International markets. And each year, a list of the top 10 most affordable and expensive markets is released to the media.

Often it can seem like men and women are speaking different languages. But when it comes to buying a home – the biggest purchase that most people will make in their lives – good communication is more essential than ever. To find out how gender might influence the home-buying process, Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC surveyed 1,000 people to see where men and women diverge in making the big decision.

It turns out that men and women are not so different after all – at least in some ways. For instance, when it comes to taking the lead on major financial decisions, almost 70 percent of respondents said it was actually mutual. And over half of both men and women agreed that a home’s security (or lack thereof) would be a deal-breaker.

But in other areas, men and women weren’t quite so similar. Women seemed more quick to make up their minds when purchasing a home – with a majority saying they knew a house was “the one” the first time they saw it. The majority of female respondents would rather live closer to their extended family than their job, while a majority of men said they’d prefer to live closer to work.

When it comes to deciding what to do with that crucial spare room, men and women agreed on the top three (and most practical) options: a bedroom; an office/study; or a family room/den. But that’s just part of the story. The number of men who wanted to turn that spare room into an entertainment center greatly outweighed the number of women who said the same thing. Maybe it’s called a “man cave” for a reason...