High-Cost Loan Limits Extended
This news was a little lost in the shuffle of excitement of the home-buyer tax credit being extended. This is very good news for the higher-end of the real estate market.
Legislation extending temporary FHA, Freddie Mac, and Fannie Mae loan limits was signed into law last week as part of a “continuing resolution” budget bill. The loan limits, set at 125 percent of local area home prices and capped at $729,750, are extended until Dec. 31, 2010. The loan limits were set to expire at the end of 2009 and would have dropped significantly, making mortgage financing harder to get for more borrowers at a time when housing sales are showing signs of recovery. “These higher loan limits will help motivate qualified home buyers to purchase in high-cost markets,” says NAR President Charles McMillan in a statement thanking Congress for its quick action