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Asking prices rose 12.5 percent year-over-year in October blue metros and 11.1 percent in red metros, according to the Trulia Price Monitor.

Bill Griffin, EVP at Lender Processing Services (LPS), has been elected to serve on the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) board of directors, the company announced.

The nation's economy performed well above expectations in the third quarter, according to an advance GDP estimate released Thursday by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). BEA's report shows third-quarter growth rose to an annual rate of 2.8 percent, beating the second quarter's 2.5 percent. The median forecast among economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for 2.0 percent growth. Real residential fixed investment, a measure of housing's contribution to the economy, increased 14.6 percent.

The national homeownership rate stands at 65.3 percent as of the end of the third quarter, up 0.3 percentage points from the previous quarter, but down 0.2 percentage points from last year, according to the Census Bureau. While the quarterly rise has some analysts expressing hope that housing has reached a turning point, others focused more on the slow pace of growth as a sign that young adults still aren't in a position to create their own households.

Fitch Ratings stated unabashedly a fear that has been whispered across the industry for the past several months--a looming bubble in some markets.

Mortgage application volume increased throughout October, but a substantial decline recorded in the month's final days has experts at Capital Economics doubting that the trend will continue for the time being. Using application numbers released by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), Capital Economics calculated a 7.5 percent increase in applications in October, pulling activity up from a five-month streak of declines. However, for the week ending November 1, MBA reported a 7.0 percent drop.

LendingTree released on Tuesday its rankings for the top 10 customer-rated lenders in its network for Q3, showing a number of new names and a shift among those who appeared in the second quarter's rankings. The rankings are based on a weighted average of the ratings and volume of reviews, with customers judging the companies on mortgage rates, fees and closing costs, responsiveness, customer service, and their overall experience. California's Pacific Beneficial Mortgage Company took the No. 1 spot.

A private-sector initiative launched by JPMorgan Chase in early 2011, the 100,000 Jobs Mission, is less than 8,000 positions from its goal. Member companies have collectively hired 92,869 U.S. military veterans through the third quarter of 2013, the organization recently reported.

On net, a "moderate fraction" of banks polled in the Fed's Senior Loan Officer Survey reported easing standards on prime residential mortgages from August to October, with a net 8.8 percent saying credit standards have "eased somewhat." Among large banks, a net 26.5 percent reported somewhat looser standards. Meanwhile, however, demand has declined for both prime and nontraditional mortgages as mortgage rates bounce upward. Among all respondents, a net 7.2 percent reported moderately or substantially weaker demand.

Findings released in the National Association of Realtors├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ó (NAR) annual Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers survey demonstrate what industry experts have been saying since the housing market started to pick up: Access to credit is going to have to loosen before mortgage-dependent homebuyers can make a more meaningful contribution to the recovery. According to NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun, conditions are especially restrictive for single and first-time buyers.