As we count down the days until Christmas and the new year, HousingWire is beginning to look at our year in review.

As we did, we decided to share with you some of the most popular articles to reach our readers this year. Some of them might surprise you – I know they surprised me! While others are more obvious.

In today’s countdown, we’ll look at the top ninth and 10th articles of the year. They may not have been No. 1, but they certainly earned their fair-share of reads.

So, we have the 10th most popular HousingWire story of 2017:

FHA increases loan limits in nearly every area of U.S. for 2018

This was one of the surprises of the year as it was written on December 7, but still managed to surge to one of the year’s most read articles.

The Federal Housing Administration announced that nearly every area of the U.S. will see FHA loan limits increase in 2018. This story has everything you need to know about the new loan limits, which will take effect for FHA case numbers assigned on or after Jan. 1, 2018.

And the 9th most popular article:

Fannie Mae joins Freddie in allowing appraisal-free mortgages

Written in August, not only did this story generate some of the most readers of the year, but it also drew heavy debate from the housing industry. As the comment board on the story shows, many appraisers were not happy with the direction the GSEs are taking.

Fannie Mae announced it extended its appraisal-free mortgages for refinances to the purchase market. However, Fannie clarified it is not leaving appraisers behind, and the vast majority of its mortgages will still require them.