More than 20 percent of counties across the country will be affected by the scheduled decline in the FHA loan limits announced by the Department of Housing and Urban Development recently, with the fallout varying from one area to another. Announcing the new loan limits taking effect on Oct. 1, HUD said the change is expected to affect 669 counties, or 20.7 percent of the 3,234 jurisdictions in which FHA insures home loans. Despite dire warnings from mortgage industry groups, HUD estimates that only a fraction of borrowers living in high-cost areas would be impacted by the new loan limits. Last year, only 3 percent of FHA borrowers lived ... [Includes two data charts]

With confidence in economic recovery continuing to waver across the country, there’s been a revival of speculation about what the Obama administration’s next move will be in the housing market, given the industry’s substantial role in the economy and the upcoming presidential election. This week the Washington Post reported that the president called for a team of advisers to create a housing finance reform proposal that would allow the government to maintain its large role in the market and extend a federal loan subsidy for many borrowers. However, Neal Wolin, deputy secretary of the Treasury, was quick to ...

The consensus among mortgage market watchers is that the downgrade earlier this month of the GSEs by Standard & Poor’s will have no immediate, detrimental impact even as Fitch Ratings this week said it is keeping Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s “AAA” rating.Fitch this week also said its outlook for Fannie and Freddie’s ratings remained “stable.” The move was in concert with Fitch’s decision to keep its rating on U.S. debt at the highest grade.“A key element of the explicit support is the guarantee by the U.S. Treasury to inject funds into Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, so that each firm can avoid being considered technically insolvent by their regulator,” said the rating agency.

The Vice-Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, and an outspoken GSE critic, is among the Capitol Hill lawmakers named to be one of the 12 “super committee” House and Senate members tasked with tackling debt reduction.

Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and three federal agencies are cranking up existing efforts to dispose of the GSEs’ ample real estate owned inventory of homes into overdrive by seeking investors’ ideas for converting thousands of REO properties into rentals.Last week, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the Treasury Department and the Department of Housing and Urban Development put out a “request for information” on how best to sell GSE and FHA-owned REO properties.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac lost less in the second quarter of 2011 than during the previous three month period and less than one year ago, but the two GSEs continue to struggle with a huge run of losses well into the fifth year with no end in sight.

A group of House Democrats wants the Obama administration to extend the forbearance period up to a year for unemployed homeowners with mortgages owned by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.

A report issued late last week by the Federal Housing Finance Agency Office of Inspector General has concluded that the FHFA did nothing to subvert its role as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s regulator when the agency negotiated the GSEs’ administrative responsibilities under the Treasury Department’s Home Affordable Modification Program.However, the FHFA-OIG noted there was ample room for improvement in the Finance Agency’s oversight of the GSEs’ financial agency agreement (FAA) with Treasury, which resulted in poor communication and differing expectations as to the payment and scope of the HAMP-related work that the GSEs performed.

A conservative, non-partisan public interest group is considering its options following a recent federal appeals court decision affirming the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s right to withhold documentation revealing the extent of political campaign donations made by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.On Aug. 5, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia upheld a lower court ruling against Judicial Watch.

AARP has filed a class action lawsuit against Wells Fargo Bank and Fannie Mae in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco on behalf of reverse mortgage borrowers and their survivors in what it says is an attempt to head off illegal Home Equity Conversion Mortgage foreclosures and evictions.