Recently enacted legislation impacted loan limits on mortgages that are insured by the Federal Housing Administration. Details about the new limits have been released.
Case numbers assigned from Nov. 18 through Dec. 31 will be subject to forward loan limits that were in effect from Jan. 1 through Sept. 30. While loans assigned a case number next year will also be subject to the limits in effect during the first nine months of this year, some counties will benefit from new, higher limits.
The limits were authorized under H.R. 2112, the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2012, according to Mortgagee Letter 2011-39 issued by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The low-cost national loan-limit floor remains at 65 percent of the conforming loan limit, which currently sits at $417,000. That leaves the loan-limit floor ranging from $271,050 for one-unit properties to $521,250 on a four-unit property. The floor is in effect through the end of 2012.
In areas designated as “high-cost,” the limits range from $729,750 to $1,403,400.
In Alaska, Hawaii, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands, the one-unit limit is $1,094,625, and the four-unit limit is $2,105,100.
Limits on home-equity conversion mortgages weren’t impacted by the new law. The maximum claim amount on an HECM remains $625,000 through the end of next year.
