The standard mortgage interest deduction, which was claimed by about 15 million households last year has expired as it didn't make it into the tax-cut deal. The fight over a temporary extension of the payroll tax cut and long-term federal unemployment benefits monopolized the conversation on Capitol Hill. The expiration of mortgage insurance deductibility will hit many low-down payment conventional loans, plus virtually all new mortgages this year where the down payment is less than 20 percent.

Industry experts estimate a range into the millions of existing owners and new purchasers potentially affected by the deductibility termination if Congress does not reauthorize all or some of the write-offs retroactively this year. The change took effect January 1 along with the expiration of 58 other tax code benefits that Congress failed to renew, including credits for home energy improvements, credits for builders of energy-efficient new houses and deductions for state and local sales tax payments.

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