Danielle Hale
Danielle Hale has been an economist researching the housing industry for almost a decade; she was incredibly helpful with shaping Inman’s deep dive on the home listing shortage earlier this year as the managing director of housing research for the National Association of Realtors (NAR).
So it’s perfectly appropriate that she’ll be joining a panel on stage at Inman Connect San Francisco to talk about that story and the lack of inventory — but her title will have changed: Hale is now the newly minted chief economist at realtor.com.
“I’m excited to be able to continue in this industry,” Hale told Inman. “I really do love the housing markets and housing research — it’s such an important market that touches so many lives.”
Before working at NAR for nearly a decade “covering everything from tax policy to, most recently, our data on existing-home sales,” Hale was researching at the American Enterprise Institute think tank, studying the history of the Federal Reserve.
“We are incredibly proud to welcome Danielle to the realtor.com family,” said Nate Johnson, chief marketing officer for realtor.com, in a press release about the appointment. “Danielle’s in-depth housing market knowledge and research experience will help us hone and grow our research capabilities so we can leverage realtor.com’s vast housing database to provide even more insights to homebuyers, sellers and dreamers and professionals.”
“Danielle possesses a rare talent for applying rigorous statistical analysis in all her work along with the ability to communicate the results to everyday people,” said Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, in the release. “She will be a valuable asset to realtor.com and for consumers.”
Hale’s duties will involve “developing and translating real estate trend data into consumer and industry insights,” according to the release. “She also is tasked with leading a team of the industry’s best analysts and economists with the goal of providing deeper and broader housing insights to people throughout the home journey.”
“I’m coming into a really strong team,” she told Inman. “Realtor.com has excellent listing data, and they do a great job of making that listing data available at such a local level. It’s going to be really helpful to give some insights into what’s going on across the country.”
She added that right now, she thinks the inventory issue is “really important — making sure that there is sufficient inventory, especially at lower price levels, because another component affected by inventory is affordability.”
“Realtor.com’s economics and research operation has emerged as a leading resource for valuable, actionable and reliable housing market information,” she said in the release. “I look forward to working with the tremendously talented team to provide consumers and industry professionals with the tools and expertise they need to navigate the real estate world during this period of unprecedented competition and demand.”
Realtor.com’s former chief economist of nearly three years, Jonathan Smoke, left the company for a position of the same title in the automotive industry in April.