Looking at the year ahead, Fitch predicts a bounce in both supply and demand for homes as the economy continues to steadily expand and both employment measures and consumer confidence see improvement. With housing starts and new home sales expected to advance, Fitch sees a possibility of higher revenues for homebuilders.

F.N.B. Corporation, a diversified financial services company with headquarters in Pittsburgh, announced the appointment of Steve A. Ek as chief consumer credit officer.

In a survey of 45 economists conducted by the Wall Street Journal, the panel largely agreed that throughout all of 2014, housing proved to be the weakest link in the economic chain, with weak household formations weighing down on demand and production.

California's DocMagic, a provider of compliant loan document preparation services, has acquired the assets of Doc-Tech Corporation, according to a company announcement.

The average interest rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) product was 3.93 percent (0.5 point) for the week ending December 11, Freddie Mac reported Thursday in its Primary Mortgage Market Survey. The average 30-year fixed rate was 3.89 percent a week ago and 4.42 percent this time last year.

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) monthly survey of loan application volumes at home builders shows new home purchase activity was down 22 percent month-over-month in November, the group said Thursday. Looking at all indicators, MBA estimates new single-family home sales ran at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 401,000 units last month, a 13 percent drop from the association's October estimate.

Statewide, sales of single-family homes increased 7.0 percent annually in October to a total of 2,379, the Warren Group reported this week. It was the best October sales figure since 2007, when transactions totaled 2,605. The year-to-date sales total came closer to catching up to last year, coming to 21,546—a decline of less than 1 percent.

Asking prices on for-sale homes jumped 1.5 percent month-over-month in November, outpacing a pre-revised increase of 1.0 percent in October, according to property data firm Trulia. Examining local market data, Trulia found increases were largely split along age lines, with asking prices rising faster in metros predominantly populated by Gen X, baby boomers, and senior Americans compared to those occupied by more millennials.

In a testimony before the Senate Banking Committee's subcommittee on housing, Mabel Guzman, 2014 chair of the National Association of Realtors' (NAR) Conventional Finance and Lending Committee, highlighted some of the biggest challenges constraining homeownership.

Movement Mortgage, one of the nation's fastest-growing privately held mortgage banks, announced that 35-year housing veteran John Ritz Miller will join the company early next year as regional director for the Washington, D.C., area.