Guide
Real estate market update video: 5 numbers in 60 seconds, every week
Updated
A market update video gives people a number they can use, so buyers and sellers both watch. Pull five numbers from your MLS and explain them in 60 seconds.
In short
- A market update video is 60 seconds on what happened in your market this week, posted the same day every week.
- The five numbers come from your MLS and take about 10 minutes to pull on a Monday.
- The video has five parts in a fixed order: your most surprising number, what happened this week, one number explained properly, what it means for one person, and the ask.
- Always say what a number means for one real buyer or one real seller, or it is just trivia.
- You can film it in your car between showings, with your phone on the dashboard.
- How long the whole video runs
- 60 sec
- Weekly prep with your MLS open
- 10 min
- Numbers to pull from your MLS every Monday
- 5
- A month for Cutroom Lite, about 10 one-minute updates
- $19.99
Why market update videos work
A listing video is useless once the house is sold, and a video about yourself only interests people who already like you. A market update gives people something useful and a reason to come back.
- The viewer gets a number they can use, not a sales pitch.
- Sellers deciding when to list and buyers writing offers both want the same numbers.
- Nobody outside your area can copy it, because only you can say what happened on these streets this week.
- One update does nothing. The same day every week for a quarter is what builds trust.
- If you miss several weeks, people stop expecting it and you start again.
The 5 numbers to pull from your MLS
All five come out of your MLS in about 10 minutes on a Monday. Pull the same five every week, so the numbers compare.
- You get new listings and homes under contract from one search of your area with the date range set to the last seven days, filtered by status.
- Months of inventory is rarely a ready-made report. Divide the number of active listings by the number of homes that sold last month.
- The list-to-sale ratio comes from the sold report, which shows the list price and the sold price next to each other.
- The local story is the one you already have from your own week, so it costs you no time at all.
- Write the five numbers in the same note every week. Last week's note is what makes this week's number surprising.
Your five weekly numbers
| Number | What it is | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| New listings | Homes listed this week, next to the last few weeks | It shows how much is for sale |
| Under contract | Homes that went under contract, and how fast the quickest one went | It shows how fast homes are selling |
| Months of inventory | Active listings divided by how many sell in a month | The single best number for supply and demand |
| List-to-sale ratio | What homes sold for next to what they asked | It shows whether homes go over or under asking |
| One local story | A sale, a price change or a listing that surprised you | It is the part only you can tell |
Number: New listings
- What it is
- Homes listed this week, next to the last few weeks
- Why it matters
- It shows how much is for sale
Number: Under contract
- What it is
- Homes that went under contract, and how fast the quickest one went
- Why it matters
- It shows how fast homes are selling
Number: Months of inventory
- What it is
- Active listings divided by how many sell in a month
- Why it matters
- The single best number for supply and demand
Number: List-to-sale ratio
- What it is
- What homes sold for next to what they asked
- Why it matters
- It shows whether homes go over or under asking
Number: One local story
- What it is
- A sale, a price change or a listing that surprised you
- Why it matters
- It is the part only you can tell
This is the whole editor
Highlight a phrase and a clip lands on those exact words. No timeline, no keyframes, no layers.
The 60-second structure
The five numbers go inside five parts, in the same order every week. The surprising one opens, the listings and contracts follow, and one of the rest gets explained properly.
- Start with your most surprising number in the first five seconds, with no greeting.
- Spend the next 15 seconds on what happened: what was listed, what went under contract and how fast.
- Explain one number properly in the middle 15 seconds, like months of inventory this week and the ratio next week.
- Then say what it means for one person, like a seller on the fence or a buyer writing an offer.
- Finish by asking people to send you their street so you can tell them what it means at their address.
Sixty seconds, five parts, in order
The first part is the shortest, and it decides whether the rest gets watched.
- Your most surprising number0 to 5 sec
- What happened this week5 to 20 sec
- One number, explained20 to 35 sec
- What it means for one person35 to 50 sec
- The ask50 to 60 sec
Say what each number means
A number only helps when you say what it means for one person's decision.
- Keep it local. Rates and headlines describe the country, and your viewer lives on one street.
- Report a slowing market before people feel it, and they will believe you when it turns.
- Say what happened as fact, and mark anything about next month as your own guess.
Months of inventory, explained for a seller
| Months of inventory | What to tell a seller |
|---|---|
| About 2 | List this month and you will probably be choosing between offers |
| About 6 | Price it sharply, or wait |
Months of inventory: About 2
- What to tell a seller
- List this month and you will probably be choosing between offers
Months of inventory: About 6
- What to tell a seller
- Price it sharply, or wait
How to film it every week
Your car between showings works better than any office backdrop, because it looks like a working agent.
- Put your phone on a dashboard mount, face the window light, talk for 60 seconds and stop.
- Post on the same day every week, so people know when to expect it.
- Film two or three of the explained-number parts ahead of time, because those do not go out of date.
- Do not film what happened this week ahead of time, because that part has to be this week's.
- Keep the numbers on screen in the captions. People screenshot them and send them to a partner.
Editing: free or with Cutroom
A weekly habit lives or dies on editing time. A market update is easy to edit, because it is one person talking.
- The free way is to post the dashboard video as it is, with the captions built into the app.
- Cutroom writes out your words, adds a headline and burns in captions in one of 40 styles. On Punch and Native it also shortens the long pauses.
- It comes back as a 9:16 MP4 in about a minute, which is the shape Reels, TikTok and Shorts want.
- Select the phrase about the street that sold and a clip plays over exactly those words.
- You change the video by editing the transcript, never by dragging clips on a timeline.
What a weekly update costs
| Option | Cost |
|---|---|
| Your phone and the app's own captions | Free |
| A Cutroom edit | 100 credits |
| Export | 20 credits per minute of finished video |
| A one-minute update, all in | About 120 credits |
| Your first video | Free within 7 days: 600 credits, no card, with a Cutroom mark across the middle |
| Lite | $19.99 a month for 1,250 credits: about 10 one-minute updates, so a weekly one leaves credits spare |
Option: Your phone and the app's own captions
- Cost
- Free
Option: A Cutroom edit
- Cost
- 100 credits
Option: Export
- Cost
- 20 credits per minute of finished video
Option: A one-minute update, all in
- Cost
- About 120 credits
Option: Your first video
- Cost
- Free within 7 days: 600 credits, no card, with a Cutroom mark across the middle
Option: Lite
- Cost
- $19.99 a month for 1,250 credits: about 10 one-minute updates, so a weekly one leaves credits spare
Questions people ask
- What should a real estate market update video include?
- Five numbers from your MLS: new listings, homes under contract, months of inventory, the list-to-sale ratio and one local story. Explain one of them properly each week, and say what it means for one kind of viewer.
- How long should a market update video be?
- Sixty seconds. If you have more to say, save it for next week. The weekly habit is what builds trust, not the depth of any single video.
- Do market update videos generate leads?
- Slowly, and then for a long time. The person they win is a seller who has watched you be right for months. Give it a quarter, and count how often it comes up in listing appointments.
- What if my market is slow and the news is bad?
- Report it first and plainly, then say what it means for one person, like how a slower market changes pricing this month. Honest bad news builds trust faster than good news does.
- Can I film market updates in advance?
- Half of it. The explained-number parts hold for weeks, so film three at a time. What happened this week cannot be filmed ahead, and that is the part that makes the update yours.
- What does editing cost?
- Nothing if you post the video as it is with the app's own captions. With Cutroom it is about 120 credits per one-minute update: 100 for the edit plus 20 per minute of export. Lite is $19.99 a month for 1,250 credits.
Five numbers, five parts, 60 seconds, the same day every week. Your first video is free.
Try for freeYour first video is free, no card, and you have 7 days to make it. It carries a Cutroom mark; Lite at $19.99/month removes it