After Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Deputy Director Steven Antonakes decried mortgage servicers for not doing enough to mend the industry after the recent housing crisis, one industry leader called his comments "inflammatory and without benefit to the audience."

Low inventory and rising prices are thwarting demand in the housing market as overall home competition is down from last January. Numbers showing competition between buyers in January, 2014, are up, but yearly overall competition for 2014 is expected to dwindle as rising prices prevent many home shoppers from feeling that they are “getting a deal,” according to Redfin.

According to the RE/MAX National Housing Report for January, freezing weather mixed with winter storms helped depress home sales, down 26.9 percent over the month. The weather caused delays in appraisals and closings. Year-to-year figures from 2013 also showed a downward yearly trend continuing through January, 2014.

January marks another decline in home inventory, according to a report issued by Redfin. With the caveat that "it is too soon to tell," the brokerage did offer some optimism regarding inventory in coming months, revealing "Redfin agents report that most of their home selling clients are planning to list between March and May."

With many older Americans feeling confident as their net worth rises with their home values, younger Americans who do not yet own a home find themselves in a very different situation, according to BBVA. "[Y]oung families will need to see faster income growth and save additional money to make a larger down payment," said economist Jason Frederick.

While the housing market made great strides toward recovery last year with improvements in foreclosures, home prices, and homeowner equity, the economy is “still healing” from the effects of the recent downturn, according to the latest Housing Scorecard from the Obama administration. Released Friday, the January report found several improving indicators and particular strength in the San Francisco metro area, which has benefited from significant government support.

About four years after the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) directed the GSEs to develop a uniform collateral data portal, the Office of the Inspector General of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA OIG) finds the portal is not being used to its potential, and the GSEs continue to purchase loans with red flags.

While homeowners are feeling more confident about the prospect of selling their homes, they do harbor concerns regarding the availability of home financing and the low inventory available for their next purchases, according to the Redfin Real-Time Seller Survey released Tuesday.

The homeownership rate dropped 0.1 percentage point to 65.2 percent over the fourth quarter 2013. The rate was 0.2 percentage points lower than the rate recorded in the fourth quarter of 2012, according to the Census Bureau.

CoreLogic anticipates a substantial deceleration in home price gains this year. In fact, the firm predicts home price gains will fall just below the long-term historical norm of 4.5 percent appreciation annually, which has been maintained since 1975.