The Mortgage Bankers Association and other industry trade groups fear that the shutdown will have a growing impact on the housing market, including FHA endorsements.

However, if Fannie Mae determines through established delivery or quality-control review processes that any loan has ineligible term or amortization provisions, it will be subject to repurchase.

The general consensus is that despite their conservatorship status, the GSEs are still considered private companies, even though Treasury controls their senior preferred shares.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has issued a proposed rule establishing standards that FHA loans would have to meet to be considered “qualified mortgages,” varying slightly from the QM rule approved earlier this year by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. According to HUD, the proposal is aligned with the ability-to-repay criteria set out in the Dodd-Frank Act and the CFPB’s QM rule. The key difference is in the pricing threshold that puts QM loans in the safe harbor, rather than the less desirable rebuttable assumption category that exposes lenders to more legal risk. Under the CFPB rule, safe harbor QM loans must have...

The home-equity market has been down so long it doesn’t take much to make it look like it’s looking up. Firming house prices in 2013 may be leading to a revival. The outstanding balance of home-equity loans, including home-equity lines of credit and closed-end second mortgages, continued to decline during the second quarter, dropping another 2.3 percent, according to the Federal Reserve. Since the end of 2007, the home-equity market has shrunk by 35.5 percent. Depository institutions hold...[Includes three data charts]

The U.S. homeownership rate fell to 63.9 percent in 2012, according to figures compiled by the Census Bureau through its “American Community Survey.” In case you’re keeping tabs, it’s the fifth year in a row that the rate has gone south.

Critics contend that jumbo MBS investors don’t have access to mortgage documents.

The Federal Reserve is pointing its finger at both loan officers and applicants for the misreporting of borrower income.

FHA claims it is still endorsing loans but only 2 percent of its staffers are on duty. Also, the USDA mortgage program lies dormant.

As the government shutdown continues and many federal workers go without pay checks, there’s a growing concern that these potential borrowers will see their credit scores get dinged.