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OPPORTUNITY ZONE HOME PRICES CONTINUE RIDING WAVE OF GAINS ACROSS U.S. DURING SECOND QUARTER OF 2024

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Median Home Values Increase in More Than Half of Opportunity Zones Targeted for Economic Redevelopment; Price Trends Inside Those Zones Continue to Closely Follow National Market Patterns; Some Measures in Opportunity Zones Again Outpace Nationwide Improvements

IRVINE, Calif., Aug. 8, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — ATTOM, a leading curator of land, property, and real estate data, today released its second-quarter 2024 report analyzing qualified low-income Opportunity Zones targeted by Congress for economic redevelopment in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (see full methodology below). In this report, ATTOM looked at 3,904 zones around the United States with sufficient data to analyze, meaning they had at least five home sales in the second quarter of 2024.

The report found that median single-family home and condo prices increased from the first quarter of 2024 to the second quarter of 2024 in 61 percent of Opportunity Zones around the country with enough data to measure. They were up annually in 62 percent of the zones analyzed.

Amid a nationwide price surge during the annual Springtime home buying season, median prices inside nearly half of the zones analyzed shot up more than 10 percent quarterly and annually.

Those trends, in and around low-income neighborhoods where the federal government offers tax breaks to spur economic revival, continued a long-term pattern of home values inside Opportunity Zones moving parallel to broader nationwide shifts for at least the last three years. That pattern has remained in place regardless of whether prices have surged, grown modestly or ticked downward.

The second-quarter price spikes were mixed, raising fortunes more so in higher-priced Opportunity Zones, while benefiting fewer of the very lowest-priced neighborhoods. Nevertheless, the broad picture remained one of ongoing economic strength, or limited weakness, inside some of the country’s most distressed communities compared to other markets around the country.

By a few measures, Opportunity Zones price trends even showed signs, yet again, of doing somewhat better than the nation as a whole during the second quarter of 2024. For example, increases in median home-values outpaced national gains in a slightly larger portion of zones than elsewhere.

“The trickle-down impact of the extended housing market boom across the U.S. continues to uplift many neighborhoods in need, revealing their economic potential,” said Rob Barber, CEO of ATTOM. “This pattern is especially evident in Opportunity Zones as house hunters priced out of more-expensive areas turn to places they can afford. While gains inside these zones vary, many are experiencing price increases, demonstrating the momentum necessary to attract the investments that the Opportunity Zone model is designed to generate.”

Opportunity Zones are defined in the Tax Act legislation as census tracts in or alongside low-income neighborhoods that meet various criteria for redevelopment in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories. Census tracts, as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau, cover areas that have 1,200 to 8,000 residents, with an average of about 4,000 people.

Amid economic limitations, most Opportunity Zones still had typical home values that fell well below those in other markets around the nation in the second quarter of 2024. Median second-quarter prices inside 80 percent of the zones were less the U.S. median of $365,000. That was about the same portion as in earlier periods over the past three years. In addition, median prices remained under $200,000 in almost half the zones.

High-level findings from the report:

Median prices of single-family homes and condos increased from the first to the second quarter of 2024 in 1,932 (61 percent) of the Opportunity Zones around the U.S. with sufficient data to analyze, while staying the same or decreasing in 39 percent. Measured annually, medians remained up from the second quarter of 2023 to the same period this year in 2,140 (62 percent) of those zones. (Among the 3,904 Opportunity Zones included in the report, 3,185 had enough data to generate usable median-price comparisons from the first to the second quarter of 2024; 3,456 had enough data to make comparisons between the second quarter of 2023 and the second quarter of 2024).Opportunity Zones did even better than the rest of the nation when comparing price changes to shifts in the national median home price. Median values in 45 percent of Opportunity Zones went up from the first to the second quarter of this year by more than the 9 percent annual gain nationwide. The same was true in slightly less – 41 percent – of local housing markets outside the zones. (A similar pattern emerged when comparing shifts in prices annually.)However, median prices were up quarterly and annually in only about 45 percent of Opportunity Zones where homes commonly sold for less than $125,000 during the second quarter of 2024. Prices climbed during that time frame in 60 percent to 66 percent of zones with higher home values.Among states that had at least 25 Opportunity Zones with enough data to analyze during the second quarter of 2024, the largest portions of zones where median prices increased quarterly were in Massachusetts (medians up from the first to the second quarter of 2024 in 73 percent of zones), Maryland (68 percent), Oregon (68 percent), New York (67 percent) and Virginia (65 percent). States where prices were up quarterly in the smallest portion of zones included Georgia (median prices up in 50 percent of zones), Louisiana (53 percent), Minnesota (56 percent), Kentucky (56 percent) and California (56 percent).States where median home values in Opportunity Zones remained up most often year over year included New Jersey (median prices up annually in 81 percent of zones), Nevada (79 percent), Ohio (73 percent), New Mexico (69 percent) and Virginia (69 percent).Of the 3,904 zones in the report, 1,148 (29 percent) had median prices below $150,000 in the second quarter of 2024. That was down from 34 percent of zones with sufficient data a year earlier and almost 60 percent five years ago. Another 647 zones (17 percent) had medians in the second quarter of this year ranging from $150,000 to $199,999.Median values in the second quarter of 2024 ranged from $200,000 to $299,999 in 23 percent of Opportunity Zones, while they topped the nationwide second-quarter median of $365,000 in just 20 percent.The Midwest continued in the second quarter of 2024 to have larger portions of the lowest-priced Opportunity Zone tracts. Median home prices were less than $175,000 in 61 percent of zones in the Midwest, followed by the Northeast (41 percent), the South (39 percent) and the West (5 percent).

Report methodology
The ATTOM Opportunity Zones analysis is based on home sales price data derived from recorded sales deeds. Statistics for previous quarters are revised when each new report is issued as more deed data becomes available. ATTOM’s analysis compared median home prices in census tracts designated as Opportunity Zones by the Internal Revenue Service. Except where noted, tracts were used for the analysis if they had at least five sales in the second quarter of 2024. Median household income data for tracts and counties comes from surveys taken the U.S. Census Bureau (www.census.gov) from 2018 through 2022. The list of designated Qualified Opportunity Zones is located at U.S. Department of the Treasury. Regions are based on designations by the Census Bureau. Hawaii and Alaska, which the bureau designates as part of the Pacific region, were included in the West region for this report.

About ATTOM
ATTOM provides premium property data to power products that improve transparency, innovation, efficiency, and disruption in a data-driven economy. ATTOM multi-sources property tax, deed, mortgage, foreclosure, environmental risk, natural hazard, and neighborhood data for more than 155 million U.S. residential and commercial properties covering 99 percent of the nation’s population. A rigorous data management process involving more than 20 steps validates, standardizes, and enhances the real estate data collected by ATTOM, assigning each property record with a persistent, unique ID — the ATTOM ID. The 30TB ATTOM Data Warehouse fuels innovation in many industries including mortgage, real estate, insurance, marketing, government and more through flexible data delivery solutions that include ATTOM Cloud, bulk file licenses, property data APIs, real estate market trends, property navigator and more. Also, introducing our newest innovative solution, making property data more readily accessible and optimized for AI applications– AI-Ready Solutions.

Media Contact:
Megan Hunt
megan.hunt@attomdata.com

Data and Report Licensing:
datareports@attomdata.com

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SOURCE ATTOM

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Anamana Disrupts Micro-Serial Market with AI-Native Platform; 97% Cost Reduction Empowers Global Creators to Challenge “China-Centric” Model

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By empowering a culturally-native creator ecosystem with agentic AI, Anamana bypasses traditional ‘reskinning’ models to deliver high-resonance storytelling at 3% of legacy production costs

SINGAPORE, May 14, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Anamana, the first integrated AI-native micro-serial ecosystem, today shared demographic data from its inaugural Anamana 100 Creator Incubator, revealing a globally diversified creator base poised to disrupt the non-China global micro-drama industry analysts estimate to reach $5 billion this year.

Two months into the program, the platform has successfully greenlit projects across five continents, signaling a major move away from the dominant mass-production “reskinning” model used by incumbents such as ReelShort and DramaBox.

While the market has historically relied on exporting Chinese narratives through simple translation or Western “reskinning,” Anamana utilizes agentic AI to empower culturally-native storytellers. The Anamana Studio production platform allows individual creators to produce high-fidelity serialized video with up to 97% lower capital and manpower costs than traditional live-action filming, effectively lowering the barrier to entry for independent creators worldwide.

“The current ROI-driven mass production model has hit a creative ceiling,” said Brian Xie, founder of Anamana. “We aren’t just localizing scripts; we are providing the tools for creators around the world to own their narratives and maximize their own economic results. By reducing production costs by over 90%, we are shifting the power from centralized content factories back to the original storyteller.”

Global Creator Footprint & Engagement

Internal statistics from the incubator showcase a massive shift in how global talent is embracing AI-native vertical drama:

The Americas: Represent 40% of both total applications and active production projects.Asia & Europe: Account for a combined 50% of the applicant pool and 53% of current productions.Africa & Oceania: Despite smaller total volumes, projects are nearly evenly split, showcasing high engagement from emerging creative “tribes”, particularly in the number of submissions from Africa.

“Geographic diversity is just the start—cultural authenticity is the goal,” said Kai Pan, Head of Marketing Communications. “With AI-native technology, storytellers are no longer tethered to traditional production hubs like Los Angeles, Kyiv, or Istanbul. We are democratizing the ‘addictive’ vertical format, ensuring the next global hit feels as authentic to its audience as it does to its creator.”

Anamana’s $2 million incubator fund continues to commission creators to foster the first generation of AI-native visual storytellers. Creators interested in the future of micro-serials can apply at anamana.com.

About Anamana

Founded in 2025, Anamana is an integrated AI-native micro-serial platform, production ecosystem, and global creator incubator. By leveraging agentic AI in Anamana Studio, the company enables human storytellers to produce and distribute premium vertical content with unprecedented efficiency. Micro-serials produced are distributed on Anamana’s standalone app and third-party platforms including YouTube and TikTok.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/anamana-disrupts-micro-serial-market-with-ai-native-platform-97-cost-reduction-empowers-global-creators-to-challenge-china-centric-model-302772154.html

SOURCE Anamana

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MCA inaugurates the largest off-grid solar park on the African continent and strengthens its solution for bringing electricity to remote communities

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The infrastructure is part of the Rural Electrification Project, which will benefit more than a million people

MCA has surpassed the previous record set at Cazombo for installed infrastructure, specifically in terms of solar capacity, battery storage and tonnes of CO2 avoided annually

The Luau Photovoltaic Park, which will supply green energy to over 90,000 people, has a production capacity of 31.85 MWp, batteries with a storage capacity of 75.26 MWh and will prevent the emission of 47 tonnes of CO2

GUIMARÃES, Portugal, May 14, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — In early May, MCA inaugurated Africa’s largest off-grid renewable energy solar park in the village of Luau, Angola. The project was designed to address a challenge faced by many countries across the continent: ensuring a supply of electricity to remote and isolated communities, for whom extending the grid is technically and economically unfeasible.

The Luau Solar Park has a generation capacity of 31.85 MWp and batteries with a storage capacity of 75.26 MWh, enough to supply more than 90,000 people, whilst preventing the emission of 47 tonnes of CO2. This is the country’s second off-grid system with a solar power source and a battery bank for night-time supply, eliminating the need for any fossil fuel. The inauguration of the facility was attended by the President of the Republic of Angola, João Lourenço, and the Minister of Energy and Water (MINEA), João Baptista Borges.

With its commissioning, the Luau Photovoltaic Park has become the largest off-grid park on the African continent, surpassing the record previously set at Cazombo. It should be noted that the Cazombo Solar Photovoltaic Park features infrastructure installed by MCA comprising 25.3 MWp of solar capacity, 59.46 MWh of battery storage, and 40,320 630 Wp photovoltaic modules.

“It is with immense pride that MCA contributes to the country’s energy transition with the delivery of yet another solar park. This is a project that goes far beyond the technical aspect: it represents a commitment to communities that, for decades, have lived without access to energy. The completion of the Cazombo and Luau parks marks just the beginning of a structural and ambitious programme, which will continue to expand in the coming months. We believe that energy transforms lives, creates opportunities and strengthens regions, and it is with this aim that we will continue to work, side by side with the communities, to ensure that electrification reaches where it makes the most difference,” says Manuel Couto Alves, Chairman of MCA.

This infrastructure, budgeted at over €87 million and comprising a total of 54,912 installed solar panels, has created more than 200 local jobs and will enable annual savings of around 18 million litres of fuel. The Luau solar farm is the second to be delivered as part of the Rural Electrification Project covering 60 communes in Angola. 

In a context where electricity plays a fundamental role in promoting local development, the Rural Electrification Project emerges as a structural solution, placing solar energy at the heart of the solution. Off-grid solar farms combine solar generation and storage, enabling clean and reliable energy to be delivered to the most remote communities, with direct benefits for quality of life and economic activity through the democratisation of essential services. The first results are already visible with the completion of the Cazombo plants in 2025, now joined by the Luau plant, in an expansion drive that will intensify until 2027.

The Rural Electrification Project, which envisages the implementation of 46 autonomous mini-grids (powered by solar photovoltaic parks) and an estimated impact on over one million people, has been recognised in the European Union’s Global Gateway strategy, which aims to promote sustainable, inclusive and high-quality connections in the fields of energy, digital technology and infrastructure, contributing to the economic and social development of partner countries. 

In the context of rural electrification, these projects seek to ensure access to clean, reliable and affordable energy for remote communities, strengthening essential services such as healthcare, education and local economic activity, whilst supporting the energy transition and climate action. Based on balanced partnerships and high environmental, social and governance standards, Global Gateway projects in the energy sector aim to generate a lasting impact on local populations, reduce regional inequalities and promote more sustainable and resilient growth. 

Designed and built by the Portuguese MCA Group, the financing for this operation was structured by the British Standard Chartered Bank with the support of the German Export Agency, Euler Hermes, which provided a guarantee of around one billion euros, reinsured by the Portuguese and Korean Export Agencies (Cosec and K Sure). The Angolan state-owned electricity production company (PRODEL Ep) is the project developer.

The Portuguese company has been making a name for itself in the Angolan market by successfully developing turnkey projects aimed at ensuring the provision of basic infrastructure, namely water supply and energy production facilities.

About MCA 
MCA is a Portuguese company founded in 1998 in Guimarães by businessman Manuel Couto Alves and currently has around 2,000 employees in various countries. The company is active in the development, engineering, procurement, construction, and operation of projects in four business verticals: Energy, Urban Development, Infrastructure and Health. MCA began its internationalisation process in 2006 in the Angolan market and is currently present in three geographical clusters including the Iberian Peninsula, Central Europe, and Africa. The company endeavours to create and share long-term value, thereby promoting the sustainable development of the communities in which it operates. https://www.mcagroup.com/en/ 

Photo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2979585/May_MCA_Luau.jpg

SOURCE MCA Group

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ScioSense launches UFC23 ultrasonic flow converter for high-precision, ultra-low-power smart metering

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The new UFC23 sensor combines improved resolution and offset stability with ultra-low standby current, enabling high-end battery-powered water, heat, gas and leak detection meter designs across a wide range of smart metering applications

EINDHOVEN, Netherlands, May 14, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — ScioSense, a leading developer and manufacturer of semiconductor-based environmental and flow sensors, today launched the UFC23 – the 4th generation ultrasonic flow converter for measurement in water, heat and gas meters.

 

 

How can meter manufacturers improve measurement accuracy, extend battery life, and retain control of their preferred system architecture? In modern applications, flow calculation is increasingly handled by a central host microcontroller – requiring a converter that can deliver accurate measurement at very low flow rates and long battery life, two demands that are often difficult to achieve together. The UFC23 is designed for meter manufacturers that want very high measurement precision and extremely low power consumption, while keeping flow calculation on their own central microcontroller.

The UFC23 extends the ScioSense ultrasonic flow portfolio with a pure front-end architecture that omits the on-chip Central Processing Unit (CPU) used in previous flow converters. This gives Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) the flexibility to fit the system architecture now preferred by many meter designers, while also delivering improved analogue front-end performance.

In a typical DN15 water meter setup, the UFC23 provides single-shot standard deviation of 35ps and offset stability of ±7ps with 128-sample averaging and a drift of less than 10ps over the range from 0 to 50°C. This level of precision and stability supports the signal quality needed in high-end water meter designs, including R1000-class measurement requirements. At the same time, the UFC23 is optimized for battery-powered systems, with standby current of typically 0.8µA and an operating current as low as 6.6µA at an 8Hz sample rate.

The UFC23 integrates the functions required to drive ultrasonic transducers, captures received signals, and extracts high-precision time-of-flight data. It supports both 3.3V single-ended drive for water applications and full-bridge drive for gas applications. A programmable gain amplifier with increased gain and bandwidth helps the UFC23 handle weak receive signals, while a programmable ultrasonic burst generator operating up to 4.4MHz and based on an external reference of up to 20MHz allows designers to tune operation to the transducer and application.

The UFC23 also includes features that help improve system-level efficiency and measurement robustness. Designers can monitor the amplitude of up to three received waves and use extended pulse-width measurement to improve first-hit detection. A batch mode allows the sensor to collect up to 12 measurement bundles before waking the host controller, helping to reduce total system power consumption. The UFC23 also supports temperature measurement with external platinum sensors for heat meters and hot-water systems.

Since the UFC23 supports multiple designs, manufacturers can reuse the same sensor across different product families. Typical applications include smart water and heat meters, smart gas meters, water heaters, pump control systems, and smart faucets.

“UFC23 addresses a clear requirement in the metering market for a high-precision, ultra-low-power ultrasonic flow converter that fits modern system architectures. It enables manufacturers to pair ScioSense analogue and timing performance with their chosen host microcontroller and software environment.”
– Norbert Breyer, Director of Marketing and Product Management, ScioSense

The UFC23 operates from a 2.5V to 3.6V supply, supports an operating temperature range of -40°C to 85°C, and is supplied in a QFN32 package. Samples are available now, and evaluation kits are available through key distributors at launch.

For more information, go to https://www.sciosense.com/ufc23/.

About ScioSense – Sensing tomorrow’s world

Headquartered in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, ScioSense is a leading expert in and manufacturer of semiconductor-based environmental and flow sensors. Its product portfolio consists of humidity, gas/air quality, temperature, pressure and flow sensors for building automation, home appliances, IoT, wearables, mobile devices, automotive and industrial applications.

At ScioSense, we believe that everyone deserves to understand the world around them, and we are here to help make that happen. Our sensors are designed to be small, smart and easy to use. We are a team of passionate and dedicated professionals committed to making a difference in the world. We believe that our sensors can help create a more informed and sustainable future for everyone.

Information about the company and its products can be found at www.sciosense.com.

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2979202/ScioSense_UFC23.jpg

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/sciosense-launches-ufc23-ultrasonic-flow-converter-for-high-precision-ultra-low-power-smart-metering-302771168.html

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