Homebuilder Davidson Communities is reaching out to real estate professionals with an innovative new "Broker Loyalty" program that will reward brokers and effectively maximize traffic and sales at its new-home neighborhoods throughout San Diego County.

In San Diego and the Inland Empire, Reno Contracting has committed its resources and employees to achieving today's highest standards of green building. Reno has made it a priority to educate and certify many of its project managers and staff in the U.S. Green Building Council's (USGBC) LEED program, a voluntary national standard for developing high-performance sustainable buildings that reduce environmental impact. To maintain these standards, LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) uses a green rating system developed by USGBC. Points are given to establish the level of LEED certification and are based upon sustainable site planning, maintaining water economy and quality, efficient energy sources, renewable energy use, conservation of materials and resources, and indoor environmental quality.

Any successful investor will tell you that the benefits of real estate investing are many: big profits, security and a historical track record of growth. The downsides, however, can be equally challenging. Investors who sell a real estate property face steep taxes that can cut deeply into potential profit, diminishing the appeal of such a transaction.

The housing slump has created another type of pain: the suffering of people who find themselves navigating a tight rental market after losing their home to foreclosure.

At a time when many commercial real estate sectors are slowing, the San Diego County life sciences market continues to grow as biotechnology and market research rank among the region's top performing industry sectors. As a result, the Cushman & Wakefield Global Life Sciences Practice reports steadily declining vacancy and an increasingly limited supply of space, particularly for users looking for options 20,000 square feet and smaller.

Heading into an economic downturn, hotels are often among the first industries to suffer as travel slows and room rates weaken. And now, vacancies are on the rise just as the fruit of a hotel-construction boom is set to add a quarter of a million new rooms to the U.S. supply over the next 24 months.

Voit is poised to be a major player in the retail marketplace in securing national retailers for the region's largest retail developments, as well as assisting top retailers seeking new sites to expand their presence in San Diego.

Each week seems to bring more discouraging news concerning the economy and construction industry: foreclosures are at an all-time high, the mortgage crisis has tightened dollars for borrowers, home sales are the slowest in 25 years, oil prices are at record highs, the dollar is continuing to weaken and the number of construction permits is the lowest in nearly a decade. So what is positive these days in the construction industry? Just look a little deeper and you will find that public infrastructure projects are leading the way.

Once upon a time you were considering selling your house and looking for something with a little more square footage, a new kitchen, an additional bedroom, a spectacular master bath. You had good equity in your home and you would use it to buy a bigger, better place. Then the market changed, your equity stabilized or even went down, and you decided that it was not a good time to sell. But all the reasons for putting your house on the market in the first place -- the desire for more space, another room, a more modern kitchen and bath -- still exist.

A Grand Jury report says conflicting statutes and archaic development codes are ruining the city's Development Services Department.

NEW YORK -- Billionaire Sam Zell said institutional investors are beginning to return to the market for mortgage-backed securities that finance commercial real estate deals and new construction.

WASHINGTON -- The government would give emergency loans to 1 million troubled borrowers under a new housing assistance plan developed by a federal bank regulator.

Leasing just getting started at Sunroad Centrum, while the Grand Jury wants to hold off on the rest of the project.

NEW YORK -- The worst housing slump in 70 years erased 67 percent from the market value of homebuilders in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index, turning the companies into small-cap stocks.

Plans for the Marriott in Ballpark Village are starting to gel, but controversy may not be far behind.

Times are slow now, but the real estate industry is already preparing for the boom that follows the fall.

With a grandfather, father and two sons currently or having been in the business, Solana Beach-based Prevost Construction Inc. is very much a family affair.