1. Mortgage rates drop below 5 percent, Freddie Mac says [WSJ]
2. Paterson softens demands for Battery Park City Authority funds [Downtown Express]
3. Greenwich Middle School prepares for move Downtown [The Villager]
4. Community Board rejects proposed Dumbo dance club [Brooklyn Paper]
5. Arby’s moving in at historic former Gage and Tollner site at Fulton Mall [NYDN]
6. Bed-Stuy laundromat doubles as art gallery that depicts NYC housing struggles [NYDN]
7. East 40s now home to another vacant storefront [Crain’s]
8. Obama set to sign tax credit extension bill today [Bloomberg]
9. Dispute leaves Boerum Hill church without a home [Brooklyn Paper]
10. Chicken coop-style “flock house” proposed for Metropolitan Exchange rooftop [Brooklyn Paper]
11. Rebound a long way off for commercial property market, says GE real estate chief [Bloomberg]
12. Madison Equities’ Robert Gladstone on how to distinguish luxury buildings [NYDN]
13. Angled glass windows go up at controversial 580 Caroll [Brownstoner]
14. 200 Waldenbooks stores to close in January [AP via USA Today]