AP - Mortgages rates have dipped below 5 percent again, four weeks before a government program that is helping keep rates low is scheduled to run out.

McClatchy Newspapers - WASHINGTON — California is broke, its 12.1 percent unemployment rate is among the highest in the nation, housing prices have plunged, home foreclosures have skyrocketed and a drought is threatening the state's dwindling water supply. There also are plenty of other issues for would-be U.S. senators to debate, including the battered economy and a massive effort to overhaul the nation's health care system.

Reuters - Two AIG units settled federal charges that they discriminated against black home buyers on fees for mortgages and will pay $7.1 million for restitution and education efforts, the U.S. Justice Department said on Thursday.

Reuters - Four top executives of Thornburg Mortgage improperly paid themselves handsome bonuses just before the mortgage lender filed for bankruptcy last year, and stole money and ideas from Thornburg to secretly launch a new firm, the bankruptcy trustee in charge of liquidating the lender alleged in a lawsuit.

AP - Homebuilder KB Home said Thursday that billionaire investor Ron Burkle will not stand for re-election to the company's board at its next annual meeting.

U.S. News & World Report - After its historic decline brought the global economy to its knees, the U.S. housing market is gearing up for a long-awaited recovery. Real estate experts expect home prices to hit bottom in late 2010 or early 2011 before--finally!--heading north again. But what shape will the rebound take? Are we in for another boom? Or will we have to settle for sluggish growth? Here's the outlook for home price appreciation through 2020.

The number of buyers who agreed to purchase a home fell sharply in January, a sign that demand for housing is sinking this winter as stormy weather slammed Eastern states.

Contracts for pending sales of previously owned homes unexpectedly fell in January, a survey showed, brought down in part by harsh weather in the U.S. Northeast.

AP - The ratings outlook for building products manufacturer Masco Corp. was lifted Wednesday to Stable from Negative by both Fitch and Standard & Poor's analysts, a reflection of an improving housing market.

AP - The CEO of Hovnanian Enterprises Inc. said a modest surge in foreclosures this year wouldn't have a devastating effect on the homebuilder's sales.