GREAT NEWS FOR FHA LOAN LIMITS IN 2014….THE GREAT NEWS JUST CAME IN

Just this morning, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced it will keep the 2014 maximum conforming loan limits for mortgages acquired by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac at $417,000 on one-unit properties in most areas and a cap of $625,500 in high-cost areas.

C.A.R. applauds the FHFA for keeping with the law and retaining the existing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac conforming loan limits.  The FHFA recognizes that home prices have rebounded in California, especially in the high-cost areas, where lowering the loan limits would have reversed the housing recovery.  Retaining the higher loan limits is critical to providing liquidity in today’s housing market and is essential to a full housing recovery.

Earlier this year, the FHFA announced its intention of lowering the loan limits.  Since then, C.A.R. and the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (NAR) aggressively fought to prevent a reduction in the loan limits.  C.A.R. and NAR both have long advocated for making higher conforming loan limits permanent, and as a result of our combined efforts, Congress made permanent the maximum conforming loan limits at $625,500.

Without the extension of the higher loan limits, many California borrowers would have a harder time obtaining financing for new home purchases and refinancing homes.