Updated: April 17, 2008 (Revisions are highlighted in yellow)
On March 6, 2008, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released the maximum conforming loan limits as mandated by the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 (the Act). The new "conforming jumbo" loan limits for certain high cost counties in certain states will apply through December 31, 2008. A complete list of the counties with new conforming jumbo loan limits is available here. Fannie Mae quickly implemented the new conforming loan limits and published additional detailed eligibility, underwriting, pricing and delivery information. For additional Fannie Mae information, click here. On April 17, 2008, Freddie Mac announced it was purchasing billions of dollars of conforming jumbo loans from Wells Fargo, Chase, CitiMortgage and WAMU. For a copy of this release, click here. is still working through the details regarding their purchase of these new conforming jumbo mortgages. For additional Freddie Mac information, click here.*
Shortly after the Act was enacted, we published an article about the impact of the Act on our high cost tests. At that time, in an effort to be as conservative as possible, in those states where the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac conforming loan limits were a factor in determining the applicability of a state high cost test, we began defaulting to $729,750, the maximum loan limit for a single-family dwelling permissible under the Act. Now that the new conforming jumbo maximum loan limits are available on a state-by state and county-by-county level, we are making the necessary adjustments to our state high cost tests to ensure that the appropriate conforming jumbo loan limit is selected for the state and county in which the property is located.
Specifically, the conforming loan limits in the following states and counties are as follows:
| Indiana: | $417,000 - all counties |
| Maine: | $417,000 - all counties |
| South Carolina: | $417,000 - all counties |
| Texas: | $417,000 - all counties |
| Dist. of Columbia: | $729,750 |
| Georgia: | $417,000 - all counties except Greene County: conforming jumbo loan limit is $662,500 |
| New Mexico: | $417,000 - all counties except Santa Fe County: conforming jumbo loan limit is $427,500 |
| New York: | $417,000 - all counties except Duchess and Orange Counties: conforming jumbo loan limit is $443,750; and Bronx, Kings, Nassau, New York, Putnam, Queens, Richmond, Rockland, Suffolk, and Westchester Counties: conforming jumbo loan limit is $729,750 |
| California: | $417,000 - all counties except as follows: |
| | $423,750: | Stanislaus, Shasta |
| | $425,000: | Madera, Sutter, Yuba |
| | $437,500: | Inyo, Tuolumne |
| | $443,750: | Amador |
| | $462,500: | Calaveras, Mono |
| | $472,500: | Merced |
| | $488,750: | San Joaquin |
| | $500,000: | Riverside, San Bernardino |
| | $512,500: | Mendocino |
| | $547,500: | Alpine |
| | $557,500: | Solano |
| | $562,500: | Nevada |
| | $580,000: | El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento, Yolo |
| | $662,500: | Sonoma |
| | $687,500: | San Luis Obispo |
| | $697,500: | San Diego |
| | $729,750: | Alameda, Contra Costa, Los Angeles, Marin, Monterey, Napa, Orange, San Benito, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Ventura |
When we have made the necessary programming changes to our state high cost tests to accommodate the new conforming jumbo loan limit in the appropriate jurisdictions, we will post an update to this article with that information. In the meantime, please The necessary programming changes to our state high cost tests to accommodate the new conforming jumbo loan limit in the appropriate jurisdictions were made effective as of April 1, 2008. Please contact the DocMagic's Compliance Department if you have any questions or comments regarding this article.
* Prior link: http://www.freddiemac.com/singlefamily/increased_limits.html.
1 The Texas high cost home law applies to a loan if, among other things, the principal amount of the loan does not exceed one-half of the Fannie Mae conforming loan limit for a single family, 2-, 3- or 4-unit dwelling. Because the DocMagic software does not currently capture number of units, in the case of a 2-4 family dwelling, the high cost test defaults to the highest, or 4-unit, conforming loan limit of $801,950.
2 The District of Columbia Home Loan Protection Act of 2002 (the "DCHLPA") applies to a loan if, among other things, the principal amount of the loan does not exceed the Fannie Mae conforming limit for a comparably sized dwelling. Because the DocMagic software does not currently capture number of units, in the case of a 2-4 family dwelling, the high cost test defaults to the highest, or 4-unit, conforming loan limit of $801,950.
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