Zillow Taps AI to Improve Its Home Value Estimates

Stories of people getting cash offers for their homes tens of thousands of dollars over asking price have become normal. This year, inventory in the US housing market hit a record low while home prices hit a record high. Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman recently highlighted the craziness with a tweet recounting the story of a home buyer who offered to name their first-born child after the seller--and was turned down. As the hot US housing market began to overheat, in February Zillow began making initial cash offers to buy homes based on its price estimate. Now Zillow has updated its algorithm behind those estimates in a way the company says will make them more accurate--and allow Zillow to offer to buy more homes.