Evan Kraus, senior vice president of APCO Online, shares significant findings from his company’s study as well as thoughts on the rise of 4G and GPS smartphone technologies. He tells Urban Land magazine why land use professionals should take notice.

During a session on financing, panelists concurred that capital may be easing for development—specifically multifamily rental—that includes housing for moderate-income workers. Read what Manny Menendez, vice president of multifamily lender strategy and relationships for Fannie Mae, as well as other panelists, had to say at the recent ULI Terwilliger Center Workforce Housing Forum in Orlando.

Though job recovery in Portland is lagging behind the national average, the city is still experiencing positive in-migration with its healthy central business district and an extension of the light-rail line, the Oregon city is seeing its real estate market revive. Read what local industry insiders and ULI members have to say about the various sectors of this Pacific Northwest city’s property market.

The pressure to reduce the federal deficit through spending cuts, uncertainty regarding federal housing finance systems, and dire fiscal straits faced by state and local governments could result in higher housing costs overall for home owners and renters. Watch a video of J. Ronald Terwilliger and read what the experts predicted at a workforce housing forum recently hosted by the ULI Terwilliger Center for Workforce Housing.

In a recent national webcast, three industry economists predicted a stronger 2011 before several markets—from housing to hotels—ramp up to double-digit percentage growth in 2012. Learn what these experts forecasted for the residential and nonresidential sectors alike—and how Middle East revolutions, steep government spending cuts, and higher gas prices could dampen the overall economic recovery.

The most effective way to garner support for workforce housing development in the still-shaky economic environment is to position this type of housing as an important component of community viability and long-term sustainability, according to housing experts assembled by the ULI Terwilliger Center for Workforce Housing. Read about an examination of the challenges and opportunities in financing and developing workforce house.

With some U.K. retail and retail-led mixed-use schemes having restarted or started recently and a swathe of major food retailers highlighting their ambitious new store opening strategies, the industry mood is much more upbeat than 12 months ago. Read which U.S. development tool is expected to make several projects more viable than they would be otherwise.

During the economic downturn, a number of mixed-use developments have failed—because they were built in places where there was not enough housing density, had rents that were too high, or featured bad design or the wrong complement of uses. Trey Morsbach, senior managing director of Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, however, sees opportunity. Read what he says can be done to turn these projects around.

Recently, veteran demographer Wendell Cox developed a way to incorporate income in a cost-of-living comparison, to establish the real value of money in a particular place. He called this “purchasing power parity,” and it evaluates higher income-higher cost locales on the East and West coasts with lower income-lower cost places in between. Read Cox’s list of top 10 metros with the best purchasing power, based on cost of living adjustments.

Greg Clark, senior fellow, ULI Europe, and Global Advisor on City Development, will be attending the MIPIM’s Build Connections conference, March 8 - 11, 2011, in Cannes, France, and has been designated to be one of four “official blogger” of the event. Clark will blog everyday for three weeks beginning March 8, 2011.