Apartment rents set to rise, fueling inflation: NAR (AFP)

Back in September, we explained that when it comes to "boom" in US real estate, there are three key driving forces: i) the Fed's monetization of mortgage backed securities whose impact however is at best to stabilize the demand floor (and judging by the recent collapse in refi activity even that is questionable), ii) an implicit subsidy as banks keep millions of units on their books (to get a sense of how much check out at the chart in "

Apartment Rentals Surge in U.S. on Foreclosures, Jobs

Apartment Rents Fall, Vacancies at 4-Year High

OTTAWA • Even before the federal government delivers its 2013 budget, the writing is already on the wall: Limited economic growth, slower household spending and the same old rock-bottom interest rates.

Five years and 16 million foreclosures after the 2008 housing crash, most Americans have not lost faith in real estate.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Pending sales of existing U.S.