Can "walkable urbanity" drive national and local residential recovery?

An article in ColoradoBiz discusses the gradual shift of national homebuilders towards infill, though the author, Stephen Titus, stresses that it has in some cases squeezed their profit margins due to rising land costs, especially at transit-oriented locations. Chris Leinberger of the Brookings Institution cites the higher home values within the quarter- to half-mile "walkable" radius of Metrorail stops in the DC metro area, though Denver is more than decade away from FasTracks buildout, making such a comparsion a bit premature. Locally, Titus disucsses older homeowners who are downsizing from bigger homes in places like Highlands Ranch and younger buyers who are buying in quickly evoloving neighborhoods like Highland. Today's New York Times, by the way, talks about well-informed, proactive young buyers who are also willing to take on more debt in buying a home.