Phishing is one of the longest-running cybersecurity threats, with the first iterations of this style of email fraud believed to have originated in 1995. It first gained widespread notoriety in 2000 with the ILOVEYOU virus, also known as Love Bug, spread to millions of Windows PCs via a corrupted email attachment. In 2024, the threat landscape might have evolved, but attachments can still be considered the biggest security risk.
As an analysis of 183 million phishing simulations conducted by customers of enterprise cybersecurity firm Proofpoint shows, almost one in six recipients of a phishing email containing a suspicious attachment failed the test set by their IT department. Attempts at link-based phishing, which can range from directing a user to a malicious website downloading malware or ransomware to a fake password reset request, were successful in 11 percent of all such cases analyzed. Data entry phishing, which can be used to gather personally identifiable information or login credentials to email or bank accounts, had the lowest success rate with three percent.
Not clicking on dubious links or downloading attachments and double-checking if the sender and the URL behind a link is legitimate are the best ways to protect oneself from financial and other damage caused by cyberattacks. However, reporting said attacks is also a crucial part in eliminating further threats according to cybersecurity experts. Out of the above-mentioned simulations, only 18 percent were reported to the corresponding team, according to Proofpoint’s 2024 State of the Phish report.
Dave Alison, Senior Vice President of Products at cybersecurity firm Cofense, highlights the importance of reporting phishing attempts in a company blog post: “If all we focus on is recognizing suspicious or malicious emails, we are basically setting up an ineffective neighborhood watch program,” says Alison. “What’s the point of seeing something suspicious if you don’t report it? As one of the most important lines of defense, employees must learn to not only identify but report questionable activity as it benefits their organization and all those around them.
The supply of homes for sale is picking up in time for spring homebuying season, and improving inventory is attracting some buyers
Seattle, WA – March 21, 2024 (BUSINESS WIRE) (NASDAQ: RDFN) The total number of U.S. homes for sale climbed 5% during the four weeks ending March 17, the biggest year-over-year uptick since May 2023, according to a new report from Redfin (redfin.com), the technology-powered real estate brokerage. New listings rose 15%, the biggest increase since June 2021.
The surge in listings is bringing some buyers back to the market. Mortgage-purchase applications and Redfin’s Homebuyer Demand Index—a measure of requests for tours and other buying services from Redfin agents—are each up roughly 9% month over month.
Increasing inventory has yet to dampen price growth. The median U.S. home-sale price is up 5.3% year over year, the second-biggest increase since October 2022, and the median monthly mortgage payment is just $31 shy of its all-time high due to elevated mortgage rates and prices. Redfin economists expect mortgage rates to gradually decline throughout 2024, an outlook that was little changed in the wake of this week’s Fed press conference, in which the Fed held interest rates steady.
For more of Redfin economists’ takes on the housing market, including how current financial events are impacting mortgage rates, please visit our “From Our Economists” page.
Leading indicators
Indicators of homebuying demand and activity
Value (if applicable)
Recent change
Year-over-year change
Source
Daily average 30-year fixed mortgage rate
7.03% (March 20)
Up from 6.92% a week earlier
Up from 6.67%
Mortgage News Daily
Weekly average 30-year fixed mortgage rate
6.74% (week ending March 14)
Down from 6.88% a week earlier; first decline after 5 weeks of increases
Down 1% from a week earlier; up 9% from a month earlier (as of week ending March 15)
Down 14%
Mortgage Bankers Association
Redfin Homebuyer Demand Index (seasonally adjusted)
Up 8% from a month earlier (as of week ending March 17)
Down 5%
Redfin Homebuyer Demand Index, a measure of requests for tours and other homebuying services from Redfin agents
Google searches for “home for sale”
Essentially unchanged from a month earlier (as of March 18)
Down 18%
Google Trends
Touring activity
Up 29% from the start of the year (as of March 19)
At this time last year, it was up 19% from the start of 2023
ShowingTime, a home touring technology company
Key housing-market data
U.S. highlights: Four weeks ending March 17, 2024 Redfin’s national metrics include data from 400+ U.S. metro areas, and is based on homes listed and/or sold during the period. Weekly housing-market data goes back through 2015. Subject to revision.
Four weeks ending March 17, 2024
Year-over-year change
Notes
Median sale price
$374,047
5.3%
Biggest increase since Oct. 2022 (except the 4 weeks ending Feb. 11, when there was a 5.4% increase)
Median asking price
$404,273
5.7%
Median monthly mortgage payment
$2,685 at a 6.74% mortgage rate
8.5%
Just $31 shy of all-time high set in October 2023
Pending sales
82,464
-4.4%
New listings
88,902
15.1%
Biggest increase since June 2021
Active listings
795,645
4.9%
Biggest increase since May 2023
Months of supply
3.4 months
+0.4 pts.
4 to 5 months of supply is considered balanced, with a lower number indicating seller’s market conditions.
Share of homes off market in two weeks
41.3%
Up from 40%
Median days on market
43
-1 day
Share of homes sold above list price
25.9%
Up from 25%
Share of homes with a price drop
5.7%
+1.5 pts.
Average sale-to-list price ratio
98.7%
+0.3 pts.
Metro-level highlights: Four weeks ending March 17, 2024 Redfin’s metro-level data includes the 50 most populous U.S. metros. Select metros may be excluded from time to time to ensure data accuracy.
Metros with biggest year-over- year increases
Metros with biggest year-over-year decreases
Notes
Median sale price
San Jose, CA (18.9%)Miami (15.6%)West Palm Beach, FL (15.3%)Newark, NJ (14.6%)Anaheim, CA (14.5%)
San Antonio, TX (-1.5%)
Declined in just 1 metro
Pending sales
San Francisco (18.1%)San Jose, CA (16.4%)Cincinnati (13.7%)Milwaukee (11.8%)Austin, TX (8.8%)
Atlanta (-16.1%)San Antonio, TX (-15.4%)Houston (-13.8%)Miami (-13.6%)Jacksonville, FL (-11.6%)
Increased in 15 metros
New listings
San Jose, CA (40%)Phoenix (31.9%)Sacramento, CA (29.9%)Tampa, FL (28.1%)Miami (27.6%)
Redfin (www.redfin.com) is a technology-powered real estate company. We help people find a place to live with brokerage, rentals, lending, title insurance, and renovations services. We run the country’s #1 real estate brokerage site. Our customers can save thousands in fees while working with a top agent. Our home-buying customers see homes first with on-demand tours, and our lending and title services help them close quickly. Customers selling a home can have our renovations crew fix it up to sell for top dollar. Our rentals business empowers millions nationwide to find apartments and houses for rent. Since launching in 2006, we’ve saved customers more than $1.6 billion in commissions. We serve more than 100 markets across the U.S. and Canada and employ over 4,000 people.
Redfin’s subsidiaries and affiliated brands include: Bay Equity Home Loans®, Rent.™, Apartment Guide®, Title Forward® and WalkScore®.
For more information or to contact a local Redfin real estate agent, visit www.redfin.com. To learn about housing market trends and download data, visit the Redfin Data Center. To be added to Redfin’s press release distribution list, email press@redfin.com. To view Redfin’s press center, click here.