Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Baseline Limit Will Increase to $484,350
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (“FHFA”) has announced an increase for the conforming loan limits. Maximum loan limits have increase each year for the past three years. The maximum loan limits will apply to conventional loans purchased by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2019.
According to FHFA’s seasonally adjusted, expanded-data HPI, house prices increased 6.9 percent, on average, between the third quarters of 2017 and 2018. Therefore, the baseline maximum conforming loan limit in 2019 will increase by the same percentage. The 2019 maximum for conforming loan limits for one-unit properties will be $484,350 (increased from $453,100 in 2018).
High-cost area limits
For areas in which 115 percent of the local median home value exceeds the baseline conforming loan limit, the maximum loan limit will be higher than the baseline loan limit. HERA establishes the maximum loan limit in those areas as a multiple of the area median home value, while setting a “ceiling” on that limit of 150 percent of the baseline loan limit. Median home values generally increased in high-cost areas in 2018, driving up the maximum loan limits in many areas. The new ceiling loan limit for one-unit properties in most high-cost areas will be $726,525 — or 150 percent of $484,350.