The case revolves around mortgages originated through Countrywide's High Speed Swim Lane (HSSL, or "Hustle") program that were later sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The complaint against Bank of America alleged that Countrywide—which the bank purchased in 2008—threw out quality controls in pursuit of higher volumes and then misrepresented those loans to the GSEs.

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).

Directed by Steven Frie, director of structured finance at Standard & Poor's Rating Services, the 2014 Five Star Conference Compliance Lab will feature a panel of experts tackling some of the most pressing issues of the day, speaking on topics ranging from the impact of the qualified mortgage (QM) and qualified residential mortgage (QRM) guidelines; how to balance state, local, and federal regulations; and the cost and consequences of compliance.

Adjustable rates also moved little, Freddie Mac reported. The 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 2.97 percent (0.5 point) for the week, up from 2.95 percent in the previous survey. The 1-year ARM averaged 2.39 percent (0.5 point), up barely from 2.38 percent before.

Though pending sales were down 2.1 percent compared to a year ago, July's figure was the highest since August 2013 and was the third straight month in which the index measured above 100, a value NAR considers to be an average level of contract activity.

The monthly index tracks housing market stability at the national, state, and metro level, using home purchase applications, payment-to-income ratios, employment, and proportion of on-time mortgage payments as measures of health. As of the June report, Freddie Mac rescaled the MiMi to make it easier to read, though the underlying data was left untouched.

Freddie Mac's single-family refinance-loan purchase and guarantee volume was $9.2 billion in July, representing about 40 percent of total new single-family mortgage portfolio activity. Relief refinance mortgages accounted for 20 percent of the company's single-family refinance volume based on unpaid principal balance.

August's increase was driven by an increase in Conference Board's measure of current economic sentiment, which grew to 94.6 from 87.9 in July. Most of that was spurred by more promising reports over the spring and summer as business and labor market indicators improved.

On a monthly basis, the Home Price Index edged up 0.8 percent, slowing down from increases of 0.9 percent in both April and May. As of the latest index, prices remain 10.4 percent off their national peak of $268,000 in June 2006. Out of the 20 largest states, all posted month-over-month increases, with Florida leading at 1.2 percent. New Jersey and Texas followed at 1.1 percent each, with New York (0.9 percent) and California (0.5 percent) rounding out the top five.

June sales received a slight upward revision to a rate of 422,000, while May sales were also bumped up in a second revision to 454,000—still far below the 504,000 originally reported by the government.