The latest federal statistics on housing prices in hundreds of local markets reveal patterns that haven’t been making the nightly news: While on a national basis, homeowners have lost more than $1 trillion in equity since the end of the boom, the overwhelming majority of local markets continue to show net cumulative value growth over […]

For many real estate investors, it was the most profitable tax strategy around: Move into a rental property you own, use it as a principal residence for two years, and convert taxable capital gains into tax-free dollars when you sell or exchange.
 But Congress has just clamped a limit on investors’ ability to play that game […]