The government-sponsored enterprise's Primary Mortgage Market Survey showed 30-year fixed-rate mortgages were up from 3.32 to 3.34 percent. A year ago at this time, 30-year FRMs averaged 3.99 percent.

Additionally, 15-year FRMs averaged 2.67 percent, a slight increase from the 2.64 percent average in the previous week. Last year, 15-year FRMs averaged 3.27 percent.

"Mortgage rates were little changed and near record lows this week amid indicators of economic growth and signs of tame inflation," said Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist at Freddie Mac.

The Federal Reserve's third round of quantitative easing has helped mortgage rates stay near record lows since September, which has benefited home sales.

According to the National Association of Realtors, the Pending Home Sales Index was up 5.2 percent in October to 104.8 in October. This could be a potential sign  that November home sales will benefit from the month's low interest rates. 

Kansas City Fed researchers said that lower income individuals have been taking on more debt including auto and credit card debt, they have been avoiding mortgage debt. According to the Fed's data, borrowers in the two lowest income brackets who have added mortgages or home equity lines in the past couple years is about 50 percent of that of the top three income brackets.

If low income borrowers become more willing to take on mortgage debt, the real estate market could see increased demand.

Although the Fed's plan to lower interest rates hasn't drawn in low income households, it has worked. According to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey, 15- and 30-year fixed-rate mortgages were just slightly above all-time lows in the week ending November 29. Both are also well below averages seen at the same time a year ago.

MBA's Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey showed a 4.5 percent increase in total volume on a seasonally adjusted basis from the previous week. This was driven by a 6 percent bump in the Refinance Index. The Purchase Index inched up slightly compared to last week with a 0.1 percent increase.

With more refinances, the refi share of total applications jumped from 81 to 83 percent, while the HARP share was up slightly to 27 percent. Meanwhile, the adjustable-rate mortgage share of activity declined to 3 percent of total applications.

Coupled with the longer week, mortgage rates remaining near record lows may have had an impact on the higher volume of mortgage applications.

According to Freddie Mac's latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey, 15- and 30-year fixed-mortgage rates edged up slightly above all-time lows in the week ending November 29. Fifteen-year FRMs went from 2.63 to 2.64 percent, while 30-year FRMs increased to 3.32 percent.

According to Carlisle & Gallagher Consulting Group, 80 percent of consumers would be open to obtaining a mortgage from a non-bank. A third said they would consider getting a mortgage from Walmart, while nearly 50 percent said they would get a loan from PayPal.

The reason for this is frustrations with banks over slow execution, communication problems and untrustworthy advice, among other things.

"Consumer attitude is driven by three things, price, service and trust," said Doug Hautop, senior manager and lending practice lead for CG. "Institutions looking to gain market share must target customer values instead of traditional asset segmentation."

The trend toward alternative lending locations may come as a surprise to some, but Costco Wholesale Group has been offering home loans online since late 2011, according to Reuters.

Jay Smith, Costco's director of financial services, told the news source that the service has been successful because they have tried to give their customers "significant value on rates and fees."

According to the National Association of Realtors' analysis of government data, the median household income for a homebuyer using conventional financing has increased each year since 2004, but the median household income for families has remained stagnant since 2007.

Between 2004 and 2011, the median income for a homebuyer jumped from $79,000 to $90,000, while median household income has been around $50,000 for the past five years.

NAR research economist Scholastica Cororaton wrote that this could be happening for two reasons: more loan applicants with higher income and/or banks have become overly tight with their lending.

Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke agrees with the latter as he said in a recent speech that lending standards have become too tight and need to let up a bit to aid the economic and housing recovery.

According to NAR analysis, if underwriting requirements returned to normal, home sales would jump 10 to 15 percent, while 300,000 new jobs would be added to the economy.

"We are instructing our foreclosure attorneys to suspend pending eviction lockouts on foreclosed homes in order to provide a greater measure of certainty to families during the holiday season," said Tracy Mooney, senior vice president of servicing and REO at Freddie Mac.

However, this will only include Freddie Mac-owned REO homes. Those that will not be a part of the suspension are pre- or post-foreclosure homes. Documentation will still be prepared by firms during this period, in order to prepare for evictions scheduled for after January 2.

Additionally, Fannie Mae announced an eviction moratorium for the days between December 19 and January 2. This suspension will apply to the same types of homes that were eligible under Freddie's plan.

Both government-sponsored enterprises recently announced a suspension of foreclosure sales and evictions in Hurricane Sandy disaster areas, which will not be affected by the holiday moratorium.

MBA's Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey found that overall mortgage application volume declined 0.9 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from the previous week. Refinance activity was down as well, as the Refinance Index dropped 2 percent in the same period. However, purchase requests were up, with the Purchase Index increasing 3 percent from one week earlier.

Despite the decline, the refinance share of total applications remained at 81 percent, while the adjustable-rate mortgage share declined to 4 percent. The government share of purchase applications was down to 33 percent, which is the lowest level seen in more than three years.

Mortgage application volume could pick up next week, as there is no holiday and mortgage rates hit new record lows. According to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey, 15- and 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged new lows in the week ending November 21.

"Fixed mortgage rates continued to ease somewhat this week to record lows and should help the ongoing housing recovery," said Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist Frank Nothaft.

According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's Quarterly Report on Household Debt, mortgage debt declined $120 billion in the third quarter. Total mortgage debt now sits at $8.03 trillion, which is a six year low.

"Consumers seeing their balance sheets recovering are getting more confident," U.S. economist at BNP Paribas Yelena Shulyatyeva told Bloomberg. "Deleveraging is still a headwind because people want to lower their debt, instead of putting it into consumption."

The large decrease in mortgage debt outpaced increases in auto and student loan debt and credit card balances, which led to a 0.7 percent drop in overall household debt. Auto debt jumped $18 billion in the third quarter, while student loan debt was up $42 billion and credit card balances increased $2 billion.

Donghoon Lee, senior economist at the New York Fed, said that the bump in debt could signal increasing confidence among Americans in their financial standing. This could lead to many making the jump from renters to home buyers, as current mortgage rates making buying more affordable than ever for qualifying borrowers.

These boomers will have no one to rely on for health related needs. Additionally, they also won't have anyone to come help them with everyday household tasks. For this reason, an increasing number of childless boomers are expected to end up in senior housing.

According to U.S. Census Bureau statistics, more than one-fifth of boomers are childless and 17 percent only have one child.

"We have provided care for our elders, but who will take care of us when we age? I don't know," Larry Weiss, founder of Reno's Center for Healthy Aging told the news source. "There will be an evolution occurring in senior living, so that's an option."

With the record number of boomers hitting the age of retirement in the next 20 or so years, senior housing should see increased demand across the board.

According to Capital Economics, this was very beneficial for the housing market. In the three months after HARP 2.0 was introduced, the average number of refinances each month rose from 30,000 to more than 100,000. This was largely because of the revision that allowed borrowers with loan-to-value ratios greater than 125 percent to refinance.

"We were originally skeptical, but we have to admit it has made a significant difference," said Paul Ashworth, economist at Capital Economics.

About half of all refinances under HARP 2.0 have been completed by borrowers with an LTV of more than 105 percent, while a quarter of them have been done by borrowers with LTVs greater than 125 percent.

This program has helped many borrowers get out of negative equity on their homes, but Ashworth said this is still a major problem in the United States. He said the almost half of all mortgage borrowers still don't have the 80 percent home equity to qualify for standard refinancing, which could slow the housing recovery.