Rents at large Pierce and South King county apartment complexes were up year-over-year 4.3 percent to 7.8 percent in the first three months of the year, according to Hendricks & Partners, an Arizona apartment real estate firm.

Home prices, on the other hand, have been on the decline for several months – the Pierce County median home price fell 7.6 percent in May to $259,739 compared to the same month in 2007, according to the Northwest Multiple Listing Service. (On a statistical side note: The average rather than median Pierce County home price decline in May was 7.1 percent, but we use median prices -- meaning half sold for more and half for less -- because the median is considered statistically superior for minimizing the swaying of prices by one specific price category.)

Here’s how first-quarter average rents and increases in Pierce and South King counties broke down, along with a couple others around the region. These are for buildings with 40 or more units.

A Washington Post story today details the ways in which the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development contributed to national home lending problems. In particular, the piece digs into mistakes made by HUD, which oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, including to require the companies to get more low-income families into home loans.

Here's some of what went wrong, according to the Washington Post story:

The agency neglected to examine whether borrowers could make the payments on the loans that Freddie and Fannie classified as affordable. From 2004 to 2006, the two purchased $434 billion in securities backed by subprime loans, creating a market for more such lending. Subprime loans are targeted toward borrowers with poor credit, and they generally carry higher interest rates than conventional loans.

Today, 3 million to 4 million families are expected to lose their homes to foreclosure because they cannot afford their high-interest subprime loans. Lower-income and minority home buyers -- those who were supposed to benefit from HUD's ations -- are falling into default at a rate at least three times that of other borrowers.

Find the whole story here.