Opinion: Keep Your Eye on Apartment REITs

It's no secret that the housing market has suffered huge setbacks over the past 24 months. Americans have already lost $13 trillion in net worth and the bloodbath doesn't appear to be over.

Real estate markets that went on a building binge during the expansion phase are projected to lose as much as 25% in housing value in 2009. It's the talk of the town, and most of us are sick of hearing about it.

But what does it mean for the apartment market? At one point it seemed a corpse could apply for a home loan and get approved in a matter of days. That put enormous pressure on apartment communities as they battled for anyone with a pulse to fill vacant units. ...