The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) reported Monday that personal consumption expenditures increased $57.5 billion—0.5 percent—month-over-month in August. The increase in spending followed a meager revised increase of less than 0.1 percent for July. Spending was helped by a 0.3 percent pickup in personal income, totaling an increase of $47.3 billion.

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported a 1.0 percent decline in its Pending Home Sales Index for August. The drop brings the index down to 104.7, its second highest reading so far this year. The drop in the pending sales measure came in the same month that the association reported a dip in existing-home sales.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced the appointment of a new deputy director of its Division of Enterprise Regulation, appointing Nina Nichols to the position.

Freddie Mac's Multi-Indicator Market Index (MiMi) fell back nearly half a percentage point to 73.4 in its latest reading, the company reported earlier this week. According to the company, the decline "appear[ed] to be broad-based, and not concentrated in a handful of state or metro markets." As of the latest reading, Freddie Mac says the index is up 22.7 percent from its all-time low in 2011.

In its third estimate, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) reported Friday that gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annualized rate of 4.6 percent in the second quarter. The figure marks a step up from the bureau's last estimate of 4.2 percent growth, which in turn was up from an advance guess of 4.0 percent.

As home values have made a rapid ascent in the past few years, those on the sales side point to lagging appraisal models as a major hurdle to finalizing transactions. In a newly released report, however, FNC maintains that despite anecdotal reports, "there is no strong evidence that low appraisal valuations contributed to mortgages falling through."

Technology expert Arny Epstein has joined the strategic advisory board at Pro Teck Valuation Services, the company announced.

After jumping up last week, mortgage rates were weighed down in the latest measure by mixed housing developments. Freddie Mac released Thursday the results of its Primary mortgage Market Survey, showing the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) easing to an average interest rate of 4.20 percent (0.5 point) for the week ending September 25. The 30-year FRM averaged 4.23 percent in the previous week's survey, a four-month high.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Fannie Mae revealed that Terence W. Edwards, currently COO and EVP, has notified the company of his intent to leave sometime during the first half of 2015.

Signs increasingly point to economic momentum building in the coming year, according to economists at TD Bank. In a forecast put out Thursday, the bank's economics team calls for economic growth of 3.0 percent in 2015 following average growth of 2.2 percent this year.