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Fannie Mae's fourth-quarter 2014 Mortgage Lender Sentiment Survey showed fewer lenders tightening credit standards and fewer lenders expecting decreased demand in the next three months, which Fannie said supports positive expectations for the housing market next year.

The survey also showed that consumer demand for single-family purchase mortgages in the fourth quarter declined "significantly."

Fannie Mae Senior Vice President and Chief Economist Doug Duncan said, "Overall, lenders' growing concerns with purchase mortgage demand is broadly in line with major industry indicators and supports our views of a modest housing expansion going into 2015. While government regulatory compliance remains the top driver of declining profit margin expectations across all lenders, more lenders, and in particular larger lenders, are increasingly concerned with consumer demand risk."

The survey showed that 13 percent of lenders had tightened credit standards in the past three months, compared to 28 percent in the first quarter. Duncan connected an increasing number of lenders easing credit standards to updated guidelines from Fannie and Freddie Mac on representations and warranties frameworks.

Duncan said, "We believe that some combination of easing of credit standards, relatively low mortgage rates, and ongoing labor market improvements will help the housing market to grow steadily, albeit modestly, in 2015."

NCUA third quarter data showed first mortgage originations at credit unions were up 12.5 percent for the quarter, though on the year they were still 30 percent below the year before. In NAFCU's Annual Report on Credit Unions, it found that 12.4 percent of respondents had tightened credit standards this year, compared to 16 percent the year before.