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Amid continued disappointments on the job recovery’s progress, momentum has been building toward a Q4 Fed easing. While many commodity prices have been running away as if global recovery were robust, and the bid for risk assets overall quite intense, there is little evidence on the ground of a recovery except for the announcement that the recession was officially over. Read more snapshots of the markets.

The current financial crisis has been a transformative event in global economic history whose ultimate resolution likely will reshape politics and economics for at least a generation. Banking crises tend to be prolonged; stimulus packages do not appear to shorten the duration of the crisis and add to excessive government debt. What are the five characteristics of the aftermath of a financial crisis?

Two facts in particular distinguish Generation Y from any previous U.S. generation: it is by most accounts the largest in U.S. history, consisting of some 80 million people or more, and it is by far the most economically challenged since the Great Depression. While they share many of the same dreams of those before them, read how gen-Yers are likely to react differently in their search for affordable housing.

In the wake of a ULI Advisory Services panel report, Pasco County, Florida, is not only making needed internal changes, but also has approved significant changes to its land use plan, focusing on the concept of using higher densities in certain geographic areas. Read what three panel recommendations are considered keys to the program’s success.

The year 2000 was the midpoint of two decades in which urban cores were being rebuilt as places to work and live. While this downtown growth has resulted in a remarkable shift in how we view our cities, it’s but one aspect of the evolution in urban growth that is going to intensify in the years ahead. Read what Patrick Phillips, chief executive officer of ULI, sees as the lessons we’ve learned and what forces of change are now in place for going forward.

What are the latest trends in commercial property values and prices in the U.S, and what is the trajectory for values/prices going forward? A review of four U.S. property price/value indices reveals that investment grade commercial property values and prices were either down 3.3 percent, flat, up 1.61 percent, or up 5.48 percent in the most recent reporting periods. What is the prevailing trend?

What is surprising for the industry is the hotel recovery is happening at such a rapid clip, says Richard C. Conti, chairman of ULI’s Hotel Development Council. “The traditional U.S. hotel industry’s demand usually follows the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and the industry usually goes through an 8-12 year cycle,” he continues. Read what Conti and other ULI members see ahead in the hotel industry.

Despite the current volatility and concerns about financing, real estate will continue to be a good investment in the long term, says Richard A. Kessler, chief operating officer of Benenson Capital Partners LLC. Kessler, also chairman of ULI New York, offers readers advice about property type, tenants, geography and the proper approach for investing, developing and managing.

Though less clear, Transportation costs are second only to housing expenses in a typical family’s budget. But efforts to make transportation costs more transparent are underway. The ULI J. Ronald Terwilliger Center for Workforce Housing, working with the Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT), has developed customizable housing and transportation calculators for three regions: Boston, San Francisco, and Washington D.C. These tools allow homebuyers and renters to enter assumptions about driving and commuting behavior into the calculator and compare transportation costs at different addresses. CNT is also developing a tool that will soon appear on online real estate listing sites in metropolitan areas nationwide, providing information about average transportation expenses for households in a given neighborhood.