The Obama administration is examining ways to pull foreclosed properties off the market and rent them to help stabilize the housing market, according to people familiar with the matter.

via WSJ.com.

1. Then: Don’t buy now, home values have further to fall.

Now: It’s a fool’s errand trying to time the bottom. Economists don’t even agree on when the bottom will occur, so the average person probably won’t be able to time it perfectly.  While it’s true that home values have further to fall in many areas this year,  interest rates will likely rise, offsetting any savings that may come from lower home values.

via Zillow Blog

The 3rd Circuit on Thursday struck down ordinances in Hazleton, Pa., aimed at blocking illegal immigrants from getting jobs or renting apartments. The court said the regulations “undermined” the federal government’s careful balance between curbing illegal immigration and preventing employers and landlords from discriminating against anyone who looks foreign.

via Courthouse News Service.

Eventually, Kit and I arrived at the house that he’d picked out for himself. It was a tall, narrow structure, with boarded-up windows and a front lawn in desperate need of mowing. There was no “for sale” sign, but that hardly mattered, because Kit simply planned to move in. Buffalo is fertile ground for squatting. Kit’s house was one of 10,000 such abandoned structures in the city. As far as Kit was concerned, this rust-belt city, hit hard by foreclosures, was a veritable Eden for freegans.

“People throw away houses,” he told me. “It’s ridiculous.”

via  NYTimes.com.

The state Appellate Division yesterday upheld former Superior Court Judge Bill Mathesius’s 2009 decision to strike down two Ewing ordinances aimed at controlling rowdy college students living in rental housing through occupancy and parking restrictions.

via The Trentonian News

Reeling from the recession’s one-two-three-punch of job woes, climbing mortgage payments and evaporating equity, desperate homeowners are dipping into a nearby income stream to avoid foreclosure: That bedroom just down the hall.

via RISMedia.

Housing rents have plunged to a 30 year low, according to Reiss & Co (a real estate market research company) as reported by Ilaina Jonas at Reuters. Apartment vacancies rose to 8% in the fourth quarter, also a 30-year high.

via — Seeking Alpha.

Apartment vacancies recently surged to 7.8%, the highest level since 1986.

And the rate is only expected to rise as demand drops further in the traditionally weak fall and winter months

via Seeking Alpha.

Faced with uncertain economic times, renters around the nation are saving money on their monthly housing costs by opting to split a 3-bedroom apartment rather than living alone in more expensive 1-bedroom apartments

via RISMedia.