*** Without a notable direct or indirect effect on primary home-mortgage rates, it is difficult to see how the GSEs' portfolios can influence homeownership. The evident de minimis to small changes in home mortgage interest rates owing to GSE mortgage market intermediation suggested by recent studies would have little effect on homeownership.
Indeed, a comprehensive survey by Ron Feldman (2001) finds that a change in mortgage rates would have to be at least 200 basis points before it would have more than a trivial effect on homeownership.9 Most analysts conclude that the primary determinants of homeownership appear to be the loan-to-value, debt-to-income, and payment-to-income ratios associated with the mortgagor and the mortgage.