United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

mortgage loan A mortgage loan or simply mortgage (), in civil law jurisdicions known also as a hypothec loan, is a loan used either by purchasers of real property to raise funds to buy real estate, or by existing property owners to raise funds for any ...

Fannie Mae The Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA), commonly known as Fannie Mae, is a United States government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) and, since 1968, a publicly traded company. Founded in 1938 during the Great Depression as part of the N ...

Freddie Mac The Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (FHLMC), commonly known as Freddie Mac, is a publicly traded, government-sponsored enterprise (GSE), headquartered in Tysons Corner, Virginia.GSE) and that does not exceed the conforming loan limit. The most well-known guideline is the size of the loan which, for 2022, was generally limited to $647,200 for one-unit single family homes in the

continental US The contiguous United States (officially the conterminous United States) consists of the 48 adjoining U.S. states and the Federal District of the United States of America. The term excludes the only two non-contiguous states, Alaska and Hawaii ...

. Other guidelines include borrower's

loan-to-value ratio The loan-to-value (LTV) ratio is a financial term used by lenders to express the ratio of a loan to the value of an asset purchased. In Real estate, the term is commonly used by banks and building societies to represent the ratio of the first m ...

(i.e. the size of

down payment Down payment (also called a deposit in British English), is an initial up-front partial payment for the purchase of expensive items/services such as a car or a house. It is usually paid in cash or equivalent at the time of finalizing the transactio ...

), debt-to-income ratio,

credit score A credit score is a numerical expression based on a level analysis of a person's credit files, to represent the creditworthiness of an individual. A credit score is primarily based on a credit report, information typically sourced from credit b ...

and history, documentation requirements, etc. In general, any loan that does not meet guidelines is a non-conforming loan. A loan that does not meet guidelines specifically because the loan origination amount exceeds the guideline limits during its acquisition year is known as a

jumbo loan In the United States, a jumbo mortgage is a mortgage loan that may have high credit quality, but is in an amount above conventional conforming loan limits.Lemke, Lins and Picard, ''Mortgage-Backed Securities'', Chapter 3 (Thomson West, 2013 ed.). ...

.

History

Starting in 1970,

Fannie Mae The Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA), commonly known as Fannie Mae, is a United States government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) and, since 1968, a publicly traded company. Founded in 1938 during the Great Depression as part of the N ...

was authorized by the

United States Government The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a feder ...

to purchase residential

mortgage loan A mortgage loan or simply mortgage (), in civil law jurisdicions known also as a hypothec loan, is a loan used either by purchasers of real property to raise funds to buy real estate, or by existing property owners to raise funds for any ...

s. Fannie Mae worked with

Freddie Mac The Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (FHLMC), commonly known as Freddie Mac, is a publicly traded, government-sponsored enterprise (GSE), headquartered in Tysons Corner, Virginia.Federal Housing Finance Agency The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is an independent federal agency in the United States created as the successor regulatory agency of the Federal Housing Finance Board (FHFB), the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO), ...

which calculates and sets the conforming loan limit on an annual basis based on statutory guidance.

Importance

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are continuously in the market for conforming loans; because of this, conforming loans benefit from greater

liquidity Liquidity is a concept in economics involving the convertibility of assets and obligations. It can include: * Market liquidity, the ease with which an asset can be sold * Accounting liquidity, the ability to meet cash obligations when due * Liq ...

than non-conforming loans.

Criteria

The

Federal Housing Finance Agency The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is an independent federal agency in the United States created as the successor regulatory agency of the Federal Housing Finance Board (FHFB), the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO), ...

(FHFA) publishes annual conforming loan limit (CLL) that restricts the highest origination amount for a mortgage that can be purchased or securitized by

Fannie Mae The Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA), commonly known as Fannie Mae, is a United States government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) and, since 1968, a publicly traded company. Founded in 1938 during the Great Depression as part of the N ...

and

Freddie Mac The Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (FHLMC), commonly known as Freddie Mac, is a publicly traded, government-sponsored enterprise (GSE), headquartered in Tysons Corner, Virginia.jumbo loan In the United States, a jumbo mortgage is a mortgage loan that may have high credit quality, but is in an amount above conventional conforming loan limits.Lemke, Lins and Picard, ''Mortgage-Backed Securities'', Chapter 3 (Thomson West, 2013 ed.). ...

, and typically has higher rates associated with it. This is because both

Fannie Mae The Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA), commonly known as Fannie Mae, is a United States government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) and, since 1968, a publicly traded company. Founded in 1938 during the Great Depression as part of the N ...

and

Freddie Mac The Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (FHLMC), commonly known as Freddie Mac, is a publicly traded, government-sponsored enterprise (GSE), headquartered in Tysons Corner, Virginia.secondary market The secondary market, also called the aftermarket and follow on public offering, is the financial market in which previously issued financial instruments such as stock, bonds, options, and futures are bought and sold. The initial sale of the ...

, making the demand for a non-conforming loan much less. By virtue of the laws of supply and demand, then, it is harder for lenders to sell the loans, thus it would cost more to the consumers (typically 1/4 to 1/2 of a percent.) A temporary increase in the CLL for high-cost areas of living was incorporated into the 2008 economic stimulus package. Congress authorized an increase of the single family residences limits to the lesser of $729,750 or 125% of the median home value within a

metropolitan statistical area In the United States, a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) is a geographical region with a relatively high population density at its core and close economic ties throughout the area. Such regions are neither legally incorporated as a city or tow ...

(MSA). The new Jumbo-Conforming program was adopted by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac effective from April 1, 2008 until December 31, 2010. The bill was signed into law by President Bush on February 13, 2008, but the new rates were not being honored by any lenders (as of March 30, 2015). The baseline CLL for 2017 increased and applied to loans delivered to Fannie Mae in 2017 (even if originated prior to 1/1/2017). This was the first time the CLL had increased since 2006. Each subsequent year has seen a further increase in the baseline CLL. Statutory provisions also provide for high-cost area loan limits that are defined on a county-by-county basis and can be as much as 150% of the baseline value. This upper-bound is often referred to as the high-cost area ceiling. The high-cost area limits are set at 115% of the highest county median house price in the local area as long as that amount does not exceed the ceiling.

Conforming Loan Limits

Per the

Federal Housing Finance Agency The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is an independent federal agency in the United States created as the successor regulatory agency of the Federal Housing Finance Board (FHFB), the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO), ...

:Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Conforming Loan Limits for Mortgages Acquired in Calendar Year 2022 and Originated after 10/1/2011 or before 7/1/2007
Federal Housing Finance Agency, Last updated 2021-11-30. *As mentioned above, since legislative changes in 2008, a select number of counties have been assigned high-cost area limits that exceed the baseline CLL (i.e. in 2022, high-cost area limits exist for slightly more than 100 counties out of over 3000 in the United States). These local limits cannot exceed the high-cost area ceiling which also varies by the number of units in a property. Recently, as the baseline CLL has been increasing since 2017, there have been a declining number of counties with high-cost area CLLs because their local median county house price values have been increasing at a slower pace than the national trend.

References

{{Real estate Mortgage Credit Loans