By Kristena Hansen | Phoenix Business Journal
With the Oct. 17 deadline to raise the U.S. debt ceiling only three days away, the government shutdown now appears to be the least of the housing market’s worries.
The shutdown has been a throbbing headache for the mortgage market, which has been forced to slow the processing of government-backed mortgages as it waits for furloughed employees at the Internal Revenue Service, Federal Housing Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Housing and Urban Development and Department of Agriculture to return to work. Local real estate agents have also been complaining of a dramatic drop in activity from potential buyers since the shutdown kicked in Oct. 1.
