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A new poll from the Consumer Reports National Research Center (CRNRC) shows consumer confidence is off to a sluggish start in 2013.

Realtors in December expected prices to rise by about 3.5 percent over the next year, while consumer estimates were more modest at 2.5 percent for the same time period, Capital Economics noted in its monthly housing report. The estimates show a growing optimism among those groups. But, with the low supply of inventory, Capital Economics anticipates much bigger gains.

The percentage of banks reporting stronger demand for mortgage loans dropped in the first quarter from the fourth quarter last year, and a slightly greater percentage are reporting easing lending standards, the Federal Reserve Reported Monday. In the case of "traditional" mortgage loans, 4.6 percent of banks reported standards easing somewhat. While the survey results suggest a direction of lending standards, they could be misleading: A bank which has tightened lending standards as much as possible may not ease them but cannot tighten further.

Commercial and multifamily originations increased 24 percent from 2011 to 2012, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

A new report from the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) asserts the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) drove banks to make riskier loans.

Subprime credit scores are declining across the country with strong declines in a few rebounding markets, according to Atlanta-based Equifax, a leading credit reporting agency. Designating credit scores below 620 as "subprime," Equifax found the number of subprime borrowers decreased 2.1 percent from the third quarter of 2011 to the third quarter of 2012. The 2.1 percent translates to about 1 million Americans who rose from the subprime category.

ISGN Corporation, a provider of end-to-end technology services to the mortgage industry, announced three new hires and one promotion to round out the company's senior leadership team.

Equity Loans LLC, a Georgia-based lender with operations in more than 30 states, reported major growth in 2012, both in loan volume and in operations. According to a company release, Equity Loans saw a 50 percent increase in loan production last year, setting a new record.

Younger generations continue to hold a more favorable view of homeownership than their elders, according to Prudential Real Estate's end-of-year Outlook Survey. The report shows homeownership remains important to 96 percent of Americans, with 77 percent of respondents ages 25-34 and 78 percent ages 35-44 agreeing it is "very important." Those percentages fall off somewhat for older generations: 73 percent for the 45-54 crowd and 72 percent for those ages 55-64.

So, there├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós some sort of football game this weekend. Like many economists, I├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬óm a bigger baseball fan than football, intrigued by the statistics in baseball, statistically a zero-sum game unlike most other sports. Just about every positive statistic in baseball for one player has a corresponding negative statistic for another. All that aside, there is some linkage between Super Bowl (yes, that's the name of this Sunday's game) and the economy, not just the stock market as many "analysts" like to write.