As Home Buying Returns, Do Apartments Face a Bubble? | by Diana Olick | CNBC's Diana Olick explains that strong demand for apartments has coincided with limited development activity, allowing rents and occupancy rates to rise. "But with the single family housing market slowly beginning to show signs of life," she writes, "the concern among banks and investors is that all that supply will hit the market just as rental demand drops off." CNBC cites data from Chandan Economics showing a surge in apartment lending during the last year.

Will Housing Improve in 2012? In a speech earlier in the week, President Clinton suggested that a recovery in housing is the key to a broader economic recovery. In this interview with Dagen McDowell and Connell McShane, Sam Chandan offers an update on conditions in the housing market and the outlook for ownership and rental demand in 2012.

Watch the video at Fox Business News.

Treasury Yield Dips In Spite of Positive Jobs Data | by Matt Valley | Borrowers with a low cost of capital are living the dream, writes RE Business Editor Matt Valley. The yield on the ten-year Treasury fell four basis points to close at 1.96 percent on Friday, helping to keep borrowing costs at historic lows for well-qualified commercial real estate investors and underscoring that Treasuries remain a safe haven in an uncertain world.

Euro Investors Slow Investment Into New York City Commercial Market | by Tom Acitelli | Manhattan’s commercial property market will see less investment from Eurozone countries in 2012, as the continent continues to struggle with it sovereign debt crisis, writes Tom Acitelli.

European banks are undercapitalized, adds Sam Chandan, and many of them are in the position of having to increase their capital cushions. They generally have two choices to do that: they can find equity, or they can sell some assets.

European Banks Retreat from US Property Sector Several European banks are stepping back from their US property lending businesses as new capital reserve requirements require that they bolster cushions or pare their portfolios. Reuters' Ilaina Jonas explains that "European bank lending to the US property market has been declining since the financial crisis, but the retreat is showing signs of intensifying now."

Realtors Revise Home Sales Data Sam Chandan speaks with Fox Business News' Ashley Webster following a downward revision in historical home sales data by the National Association of Realtors. Looking forward, Dr Chandan argues that a sustainable recovery in housing rests upon stronger job creation. Very low mortgage rates have characterized the market for some time but, on their own, are insufficient to reverse the decline in homeownership.