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While that prediction is still modest, Fannie Mae says it's strong enough to "drag last year's unspectacular housing activity upward," according to the report. Fannie Mae credits projections for continued low gasoline prices, firming labor market conditions, rising household net worth, improving consumer and business confidence, and reduced fiscal headwinds to usher in a year of steady, if "not yet robust" economic improvement that should lead to a higher rate of household formation in 2015.

According to BEA, the latest quarterly estimate includes improved contributions from consumer spending, which is now estimated to have increased 3.2 percent compared to Q2's 2.5 percent gain. Also improved in the third report was the contribution from nonresidential fixed investment, which increased 8.9 percent. Residential fixed investment—a measure of the housing market's direct contribution to economic activity—increased just 3.2 percent.

In a year that's seen promising—albeit unspectacular—growth, economists agree that one sector of the U.S. economy disappointed: the housing market.

Consumer sentiment hit yet another post-recession high in November, reflecting increased confidence in personal finances and the labor market heading into the holiday spending season.

According to the Conference Board, consumers in the latest survey were less optimistic about the labor market outlook, reflected in a decline in the share of respondents expecting more jobs in the next six months and an increase of more than 2 percentage points in the share expecting fewer jobs.

The U.S. economy continued to outperform in the third quarter as consumer and government spending provided a boost to gross domestic product (GDP). According to a second estimate ...

The nation's economy continued to grow at a brisk clip in the third quarter, slowing down from the prior period but still beating forecasts.

According to BEA, the turnaround in the second quarter largely reflected positive contributions from consumer spending, exports, private inventory investment, state and local government spending, and both residential and non-residential fixed investment.

Despite slower growth early in the year and a disappointing showing in August, the labor market managed to add more than 1.7 million jobs in 2014's first eight months, coming in at 300,000 more than average over the previous three years as payrolls kept up a steady streak of monthly gains above 200,000.

With its latest estimate, BEA said the overall picture of the economy was about the same as in the first report, with the biggest differences being in nonresidential fixed investment (which increased more than previously thought) and private inventory investment (which was up slightly less).