Despite slower economic growth in recent months following a strong showing in mid-2014, Fannie Mae's Economic and Strategic Research Group says that it still expects 2015 to be a slightly better year overall economically in the United States.

At the direction of their conservator, both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced on Thursday updates to their life-of-loan representation and warranty framework in order to provide clarity for lenders regarding the potential risk for repurchase.

Home flipping sales, or those in which a home is purchased and sold within 12 months, represented 4 percent of all single-family home sales in the United States in the third quarter, a decline from 4.6 percent in Q2 2014 and from 5.6 percent in the third quarter of 2013, according to RealtyTrac.

A report released recently by the Pew Research Center indicates that while the U.S. unemployment rate is low, the number of people who are "not in the labor force," meaning they are not counted among the unemployed in the BLS survey, is near an all-time high.

Along a one to 10 scale with one being "much worse" and 10 being "much better," 34 percent of respondents said they expected business conditions to be "a little better" in six months (a six on the scale), while 22 percent said they expected business conditions to be "a little worse" (a five on the scale), the Collingwood Group reported.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ordered California-based mortgage lender Franklin Loan Corporation to pay $730,000 in restitution for rewarding its employees with bonuses for suggesting loans with higher interest rates to borrowers.

Wells Fargo, the nation's top mortgage lender, had agreed to sell $39 billion worth of mortgage servicing rights to Atlanta-based Ocwen, the nation's largest non-bank mortgage servicer, early this year. In February 2014, the transaction was delayed indefinitely by Benjamin Lawsky, head of New York's Department of Financial Services.

Lewisville, Texas-based Nationstar Mortgage Holdings Inc. has announced the hiring of Kal Raman, a leading technology executive, as CEO of the company's wholly-owned subsidiary, Solutionstar.

The new rule, which goes into effect on January 1, 2015, prohibits a financial company from combining with another company if the liabilities of the newly formed company between the two exceed 10 percent of aggregate consolidated liabilities of all financial companies.

With the midterm election in the rearview, Democrats are circling the wagons to protect what will certainly be a top priority on the Republicans' list of changes to make—the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).