Thanks to increases in home prices in 2019, the Federal Housing Administration loan limit will increase for nearly all of the country in 2020, HousingWire.com reported. According to an announcement from the FHA, the 2020 FHA loan limit for most of the country will be $331,760, an increase of nearly $17,000 over 2019’s loan limit of $314,827. That loan limit applies to much of the country, with the figure determined as a percentage of the national conforming loan limit for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which is increasing in 2020 to $510,400. FHA is required by the National Housing Act, as amended by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, to set single-family forward loan limits at 115 percent of median house prices, subject to a floor and a ceiling on the limits. FHA calculates forward mortgage limits by Metropolitan Statistical Area and county. FHA’s 2020 minimum national loan limit, or “floor,” of $331,760 is 65 percent of the national conforming loan limit of $510,400. This floor applies to “low-cost areas,” which are counties where 115 percent of the median home price is less than the floor limit.
