The third-quarter average is down 2.74 percent from the previous quarter, according to LendingTree, which suggested in a press release that the drop is due to a slight loosening of standards by lenders across the nation. The lowest average down payment percentage in the third quarter took place in Nebraska, where down payments averaged 12.5 percent of loan values. South Dakota (12.8 percent), Arkansas (12.9 percent), and Alabama (12.9 percent), followed, all with averages under 13 percent for the quarter.

In a recently released white paper, Equifax delves into undisclosed debt and offers recommendations for how to deal with a potentially difficult hazard.

Asking prices rose 12.5 percent year-over-year in October blue metros and 11.1 percent in red metros, according to the Trulia Price Monitor.

The national homeownership rate stands at 65.3 percent as of the end of the third quarter, up 0.3 percentage points from the previous quarter, but down 0.2 percentage points from last year, according to the Census Bureau. While the quarterly rise has some analysts expressing hope that housing has reached a turning point, others focused more on the slow pace of growth as a sign that young adults still aren't in a position to create their own households.

Fitch Ratings stated unabashedly a fear that has been whispered across the industry for the past several months--a looming bubble in some markets.

With Fannie Mae enacting tighter requirements on eligibility for loan purchases, experts at the Urban Institute's Housing Finance Policy Center are speaking out against the move. In a blog post on the Urban Institute's Metro Trends Blog site, the center's Laurie Goodman and Taz George said, "This change places yet another barrier in front of low- and moderate-income families, who are already facing a tightening credit box." They also commented that if Fannie Mae's intent was to reduce risk, "this was a crude way to accomplish it."

National home prices are up 10.1 percent year-over-year in the second quarter, but price appreciation is expected to fall out of the double-digits, reaching 5.4 percent by the beginning of next year, according to the CoreLogic Case-Shiller Home Price Indexes. "Combined with increased housing construction, expected increases in existing inventories should restrain price appreciation even if demand remains strong," said David Stiff, principal economist for CoreLogic Case-Shiller.

In the aftermath of the federal government shutdown, Redfin Research Center finds home sellers harbor concerns about the state of the economy and declining optimism toward selling their homes. "Almost certainly due to the U.S. government shutdown and debt ceiling battle in October, sellers this quarter were most worried about the state of the U.S. economy, with 39 percent naming 'general economic conditions' as a concern about listing their home," Redfin stated Thursday in its Real-Time Seller Survey.

Home prices continue to rise, albeit with some dampening due to seasonal impacts. However, prices are still appreciating faster than last year, according to Lender Processing Services' (LPS) Home Price Index report for August. LPS calculated a 0.4 percent monthly home price increase in August and a 9 percent annual rise. Both calculations are lower than the S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, which calculated a 1.3 percent monthly increase and a 12.8 percent annual increase.

Country Financial, a financial services company based in Bloomington, Illinois, found in a recent survey that 48 percent of Americans say the market could reach a bubble over the next two years.