AFP - Sales of new one-family homes in the United States plunged to a record low in May, government data showed Wednesday, after the expiration of a homebuyer tax credit.

Reuters - Demand for loans to buy U.S. homes shriveled to a 13-year low last week, following the expiration of federal tax credits, while near-record low mortgage rates stoked refinancing, the Mortgage Bankers Association said on Wednesday.

Reuters - America’s financial crisis disproportionately cut access to conventional mortgage loans for minority communities compared to predominantly white neighborhoods, according to a study released on Thursday.

AP - They were the Cassandras of the housing bubble, warning us it was bound to burst.

McClatchy Newspapers - WASHINGTON — Problems in the nation’s housing market are enormously complex, and the modest initiatives announced Friday by the Obama administration won’t cover everyone in every situation, but it should help.

The Christian Science Monitor - The five states where the housing crisis has taken the biggest toll will receive part of a $1.5 billion federal aid package intended to slow the tide of home foreclosures, the Obama administration announced Friday.

AFP - President Barack Obama will Friday unveil a package of measures aimed at helping those worst affected by the US housing crisis as he visits Nevada, where the collapse hit particularly hard.

The Christian Science Monitor - David Knox sits at a suburban Chicago food pantry, scanning local headlines that seem less dire than those that might sum up his own life at the moment: His home is in foreclosure. He lost his job in September

AP - Stockton hardly looks like the most miserable city in the country.

AFP - The US Treasury said Thursday it would extend guarantees to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac through 2012 to allow the government-sponsored mortgage finance giants to weather any new crisis.