The maximum amount of a mortgage that can be insured by the Federal Housing Administration has been established for next year. Also released were limits on homes in high-cost areas, super-limits for properties financed in outlying areas and limits on federally insured reverse mortgages.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development has released FHA loan limits for calendar-year 2013.
Impacted loans are forward mortgages secured by single-family residences, including condominiums, as well as 203(k) rehabilitation mortgages. Limits were also released for home-equity conversion mortgages.
The new limits were outlined in Mortgagee Letter 12-26. They were issued under the authority of H.R. 2112, the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2012, Public Law 112-55.
The FHA national floor limit is set at 65 percent of the national conforming limit, which last month the Federal Housing Finance Agency reported would be $417,000 in 2013. That left the FHA floor limit at $271,050 for one-unit properties. On duplexes, the limit is $347,000, while it climbs to $419,425 on triplexes and $521,250 on four-unit properties.
In areas designated as high-cost, the one-unit limit is $729,750, while it rises to $1,403,400 on four-unit properties.
Special exceptions have been made for loan limits in Alaska, Hawaii, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands. FHA loan limits on one-unit properties in these locations are expanded to $1,094,625, while four-unit residential properties in these areas can be financed up to $2,105,100.
Maximum claim amounts on home-equity conversion mortgages are $625,500, the same as for 2012.
The maximum limits are effective for case numbers issued between Jan. 1, 2013, until Dec. 31, 2013.
Local limits can be obtained online at https://entp.hud.gov/idapp/html/hicostlook.cfm.
