Because U.S. housing markets are failing to find a bottom, more and more economists are coming to believe that writing down the loans of underwater homeowners is what will end the recession.

Postwar master-planned communities enabled Americans to build their lives around great neighborhoods, schools, and suburban amenities. In the coming years, communities will continue to be comprehensively planned, but implementation will be in smaller increments, experts predict.

Coupled with numerous advances in other green programs, the National Green Building Standard and the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) for Homes Multifamily Midrise Guidance make multifamily energy efficiency and broader environmental performance goals more attainable than ever. Read how two builders are not just preaching green, but living it.

Speaking across the street from Disneyland at the National Association of Realtors’ annual convention in Anaheim, California, earlier this month, chief economist Lawrence Yun said signs are developing that signal a “recovery occurring next year and continuing into 2014.” Read more to learn about what he said will be a moderate, respectable recovery—rather than a great, robust expansion.

Real estate developers as anthropologists? Sponsored by the Urban Land Institute, a nonprofit organization that brings together all real estate disciplines to promote responsible land use, an eight-month research effort found that the planned community is alive, if not well, and definitely not living in suburbia—at least not anymore. Read more to learn why the conversation about the future of planned communities is far from over.

At ULI’s 2011 Fall Meeting, a panel of homebuilder executives shared their insights on the challenges and rewards of working in today’s economic climate. Eschewing the doom and gloom, they shared areas in which they are finding success. Read more to learn why they are optimistic about their prospects in a market that is seeing competition from foreclosures as well as changing consumer demand.

At a ULI 2011 Fall Meeting session titled “HUD Catalysts for Repositioning Neighborhood Markets,” a yet-unauthorized new HUD program called Rental Assistance Demonstration was described that would allow Section 9 public housing and several other HUD housing programs to convert to Section 8. Read more to learn how this program is just one part of HUD’s larger strategy to preserve rental housing.

At the Mortgage Bankers Association’s annual convention in Chicago earlier this month, it was said that mortgage originations are expected to dip by over 25 percent next year, from an estimated $1.2 trillion in 2011 to just $900 million in 2012—which would be the lowest level of loan production since 1997. Read more to learn what those in attendance had to say about the trade group’s assessment.

Fannie Mae Form 1004—the appraisal form most widely used for home loan lending purposes—makes scant mention of energy-saving features. So even if a home is loaded with them, their value is rarely factored into the appraiser’s analysis. But a new form put into play late last month by the nation’s largest professional group of real estate appraisers is about to change that.

Tasinsa has launched a quick response (QR) code application allowing clients to use a mobile device to get instant access to information about commercial and residential properties marketed by the firm. Read how the Spanish real estate consultancy is using the capability, developed by ULI member and Tasinsa managing director David Marquina, and the impact it is having on the firm’s business.