Move over, mortgage payment. You're being nudged out of the headlines.

A new report from the Center for Housing Policy reports that almost every major expense associated with home ownership has shot up in the last ten years. (the study looks at the years between 1996 and 2006). The report, "Stretched Thin: The Impact of Rising Housing Expenses on America's Owners and Renters" lays out some sobering realities. But at least you know it's not just your imagination. (make sure to read the comments of this MarketWatch piece. Very interesting).

Not only has the average mortgage payment increased by 46% in those ten years, but property taxes increased 66%. Utilities shot up 43%. Property insurance spiked 83%!

Homeowner Incomes? Those went up by about 36% in those ten years, according to the survey (wonder if they collected that information from mortgage applications. "Liar Loans" were rife in the latter part of that decade).

Renters aren't excluded from this pain, either, as landlords tend to pass their increased costs onto their tenants. According to the report, rents rose by about 51% over the period examined, while renter incomes only rose 31%.

Apart from adding more gloomy news for your weekend, the report does make some recommendations. New housing needs to be far more energy efficient, and built closer to urban centers and public transportation.

For more details, see the entire report here.

More than $15 million in deposits on homes that were never started or are partially built may be lost by homebuyers who had contracts with Levitt & Sons, which is now in bankruptcy. The 547 homebuyers involved have more than $17 million on deposit, but have been offered only $2,450 each as a settlement.

After writing the bankruptcy story for BloggingStocks, I was contacted by Roberta Licker, who is fighting for a return of her $41,391 deposit from Levitt & Sons. She's one of 547 people, mostly retirees and near retirees, who saw their retirement dreams destroyed when Levitt & Sons stopped construction in October 2007 and then filed for bankruptcy in November. These folks have a total of more than $17 million in deposits on unfinished or unbuilt homes, yet there is no representative on the unsecured creditors committee of 22 representing the interest of these homebuyers.

Levitt & Sons is owned 100% by Levitt Corporation, but the corporation is making the case that the corporation is not liable for the funds lost by homeowners and other unsecured creditors, primarily tradespeople, because Levitt & Sons was a separate limited liability company (LLC). That's one of the big issues. Will the LLC status protect Levitt Corporation? We probably won't know that answer for years until after several legal battles.

Roberta Licker wants the bankruptcy judge, Raymond Ray, to either place at least one of the homebuyers on the unsecured creditors committee or to allow a second committee that will represent these homebuyers. Tomorrow, Judge Ray is holding the first of at least two hearings for the people who have filed "pro se" (without attorney representation) motions with the court asking for a return of their deposits. In many cases, these deposits were supposed to be put in escrow, in other cases the homebuyers did waive their escrow rights.

It's no secret that subprime mortgage holders have been feeling the pressure this year. So far we have not heard too much news regarding regular mortgage holders, but a new report is showing that even the average mortgage holder is starting to feel the pain of a weak housing market.

For most of this year, the headlines have revolved around foreclosures involving high-risk subprime loans. We have seen reports of falling home prices, but so far prime mortgage holders have been cruising along feeling pretty safe from the mounting real estate concerns. What they had not counted on was falling home prices pushing their outstanding mortgages "underwater."

What exactly does it mean to have a mortgage go underwater? Simply put, it is the term used to describe a mortgage where the underlying property value is worth less than the property in question. What has led to this is the fact that on average, property values nationwide are running 5 1/2% lower than they were this time last year, and many markets across the nation have seen much larger declines in values.