6 real estate headlines: 02-May

A daily dose of headlines for real estate agents, mortgage lenders, homebuyers and home sellers.

Buying is cheaper than renting Bankrate.com: The trend is expected to continue through the rest of the year as the rental market gains strength. Rents have started climbing and apartment vacancies have been dropping.	The mysterious charms of DC's alleys Washington City Paper: Unlike in older cities, where alley dwellings were constructed later as real estate pressures mounted, DC alleys were built in conjunction with middle-class housing in the years of the city's rapid expansion following the Civil War.
Downtown faces stiff competition from redeveloped 'burbs Washington Examiner: Downtown's property tax rate of nearly 1.9 percent is nearly double the rate in most suburban office hubs like Alexandria, Rosslyn or Bethesda.	Foreclosure side effect: Bidding wars Housing Wire: The factors feeding the competition stem from the fact that many traditional homeowners can't or won't sell, leaving deal-hungry buyers clamoring for bank-owned foreclosures.
Do homebuilders have a future? Wall Street Journal: Bargain-priced foreclosures remain stubborn competition. Would-be buyers can't qualify for mortgages. High unemployment rates persist.	How borrowers could lose with new mortgage rules HSH.com: In the end, the Federal Reserve standards go as far as possible to assure the best interests of the lending community the Fed is supposed to regulate.

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