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December's job gain was close to 2014's average monthly increase, and 2014 was the best year of job growth in the United States since 1999. According to Fannie Mae Chief Economist Doug Duncan, the underlying data may not be so encouraging for the housing market, however.

A day after the White House announced plans to cut the Federal Housing Administration's (FHA) mortgage insurance premium by 50 basis points, politicians and commentators are still wrestling with the reduction's potential impact on the housing market, the mortgage insurance industry, and the agency itself.

In a speech Thursday morning in Phoenix, President Barack Obama spoke of the progress the housing market has made since 2009 and measures his administration is taking to help everyone achieve homeownership.

According to CoreLogic's latest estimates, an additional 273,000 U.S. homes recovered to a positive equity position in Q3, bringing the total number of mortgaged homes with equity to approximately 44.6 million—about 90 percent of all mortgaged properties in the nation.

The White House announced Wednesday that the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) will reduce mortgage insurance premiums in an effort to boost U.S. homeownership. The announcement is welcome news to many of housing's biggest trade organizations, who have been vocal in the past few months about the consequences of higher premiums.

Out of a group of 1,000 Americans polled in Fannie Mae's December National Housing Survey, 41 percent said they now believe the economy is "on the right track," up from 36 percent in November, the company reported. In contrast to December's slightly more positive economic attitudes, consumer sentiment toward the housing market remained subdued for another month.

Speaking as a guest presenter at the Rotary Club of Atlanta on Monday, Fannie Mae President and CEO Timothy Mayopoulos warned against any type of reform where housing finance is concerned, telling the audience that "the (current) system works," according to a report.

In its latest look at the RMBS segment, Fitch says that while the market still has some rebuilding left to do, it "has seen some rather substantial improvements of late," owing in large part to improved loan underwriting standards in recent years. According to the company, the performance of recent vintage mortgage loans is the best on record so far.

In its November Home Price Index (HPI) report, property data firm CoreLogic recorded a 0.1 percent month-over-month increase in U.S. home prices for November. The minor gain, which includes data from distressed home sales, follows a 0.5 percent increase originally reported for October.

Total construction spending for November fell 0.3 percent from the prior month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $975 billion, the Commerce Department reported Friday. Economists polled by Econoday predicted a 0.5 percent pickup.