Apartment Choice

When it comes to getting new apartments built, San Diego is the 11th worst city in the nation, said a national study released Monday . Fifty cities were ranked on specific factors, including local regulations and land available for development, that were determined to be critical to construction by trade groups such as the National Multifamily Housing Council and the National Apartment Association . Honolulu was ranked the most difficult market for building new apartments, and New Orleans was the easiest. Research gathered by Florida-based think tank Hoyt Advisory Services for the trade groups looked at the Wharton Residential Land Use Regulation Index, a survey of regulatory laws, and a method of mapping developable land created by Sumner La Croix of the University of Hawaii. It also used the U.S. Census and other data and market research. In California, San Francisco was deemed the hardest to get new supply built at No. 8. Los Angeles was No. 12, Riverside No. 13, Sacramento ...

Coast to coast, the housing industry currently favors the home seller as prices are rising, sales surging and inventories dwindling -- which leave the residences on the market more valuable. Take Seattle as a caffeinated example. The northwest city of 3. 5 million people boasts the hottest housing market in the country since last fall, according to the Case- Shiller home price index and reported this summer in the Seattle Times. The typical single-family house in metro Seattle cost 12 .9 percent more in April than a year ago, the report notes. Other fast-rising markets are Portland, Oregon; Dallas; Denver; and Detroit, up 9.3 to 7.4 percent respectively. Those totals compare with a 5. 5 percent national price growth rate . What's good for owners and well-off buyers can be doubly troubling for at least one group: lower income property shoppers including first-time homebuyers who can't afford average and midpoint home prices or apartment rents . According to studies, the na...