National foreclosure inventory fell 31 percent year-over-year in December, with 2.1 percent of all homes with a mortgage in some stage of foreclosure, according to CoreLogic's December National Foreclosure Report. Completed foreclosures also declined year-over-year in December, though at a somewhat lower rate of 14 percent. "Clearly, 2013 was a transitional year for residential property in the United States," said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic.

As the Super Bowl approaches, the sports world is abuzz with comparisons of the two teams facing off Sunday as analysts compare everything from the number of veteran players to yards gained during the season. At the same time, ZipRealty, a national online real estate brokerage based in Emeryville, California, looked at the stats to compare the two teams’ home housing markets. Denver’s market pulls ahead of Seattle at least marginally in four out of five categories.

While the housing market is still far from “normal,” it is inching that way, according to a report released Thursday from Zillow. Last year’s skyrocketing home price appreciation, frenzied demand from investors, and high tide of negative equity are all expected to subside somewhat this year, according to the real estate company. A number of unsettling trends started to emerge as a result of rapid and ultimately unsustainable appreciation last year, according to Zillow, but markets that posted the highest price gains in 2013 are already slowing.

Mortgage rates may be rising, but the housing market doesn’t seem to mind. In fact, several indicators have improved alongside rising rates, according to the HousingPulse Tracking Survey released this week. The lending atmosphere is becoming friendlier, especially to first-time buyers. Simultaneously, the average time on market for non-distressed properties and the average sales-to-list price ratio both improved year-over-year in December.

Despite declining foreclosure starts over the year, distressed sales made up a higher percentage of overall home sales in 2013 than they did the previous year, according to the U.S. Residential & Foreclosure Sales Report released Thursday by RealtyTrac. Foreclosure sales—which include sales to third-party buyers at foreclosure auction and sales of REOs—combined with short sales to make up 16.2 percent of residential property sales in 2013, up from 14.5 percent in 2012. The report also revealed an uptick in cash purchases at the close of the year.

Following a year of fast-paced appreciation, Fitch Ratings expects home price gains to slow to a more moderate pace in 2014 in the United States, according to its Global Housing and Mortgage Outlook released Tuesday. The ratings agency also predicts mortgage volume will decline and delinquencies and shadow inventory will decrease, albeit slowly, while liquidation timelines continue to rise.

A new report from Ellie Mae shows credit standards ended 2013 at their lowest level all year. The company found that by December, criteria for first-lien mortgages had relaxed considerably, with the average FICO score at 727, loan-to-value ratios averaging 82 percent, and debt-to-income ratios at a yearly high of 39 percent. The company also found that loans originated in December took an average of 43 days to close, down from 55 days a year earlier.

While there may be some long-term side effects of the recent financial crisis, the economy will return to its pre-crisis growth path eventually, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told an audience at the Brookings Institution Thursday. He defended the Fed's quantitative easing and forward guidance as being """"at least somewhat effective"""" and touted the one positive impact of the crisis: reformation of the financial regulatory system.

When a homeowner is unable to make their mortgage payments or owes more on the home than it's worth, a short sale can be a viable option that avoids the negative implications of a foreclosure for both the homeowner and the mortgage-holder. However, common perceptions of short sales as difficult, lengthy, restricted to specific circumstances, and harmful to personal credit cause many to shy away from the option.

As the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's mortgage rules took effect on Friday, Director Richard Cordray addressed an audience in Phoenix, publicly lauding the new regulations. Cordray referenced Frank Lloyd Wright's common witticism, """"There is nothing more uncommon than common sense,"""" as epitomizing the years preceding the financial crisis and stressed that the new rules are a """"back to basics approach.""""